


Scent

by Firequill



Series: Way Back When [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, It does link up with canon eventually I swear, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-01 10:44:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 42,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4016788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firequill/pseuds/Firequill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is 2125. Stiles Stilinski is a junior at Beacon Hills High School. He is a member of the terri-cross team, works on the personal devices called com units, and spends time with his friends. Things change when a new student comes to Beacon Hills. Scott McCall is instantly popular, drawing the attention of everyone - including Stiles' crush, Ellie. It quickly becomes clear that the person Scott wants to spend more time with is Stiles - the one person who wants nothing to do with him. The more Stiles finds out about Scott, the less he's sure what to think. When he starts searching for answers, Stiles finds them - but they're nothing he ever could have anticipated.<br/>Book One of the story Way Back When</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Way Back When is a story that will be written in three books - Scent, Blood, and Pack. So far the only completed book is Scent, which is coming in at around 42,000 words. The plan is to work on Blood while publishing one chapter of Scent a week (every Tuesday is the current plan). It's hard to write a summary without giving too much away, but just know that this story does hook up with canon (as of season 4 anyway) eventually and that there's plenty of secrets that will be revealed as we go. I hope you enjoy this first chapter!

It was a sunny day in Beacon Hills, California. No one was surprised. Fall in this town usually meant bright sun, colorful leaves, and temperatures so warm it was like getting a second summer. Unfortunately for the teenagers, a second summer’s worth of weather didn't mean a second summer’s worth of vacation. Despite the forecast of 85 degrees and sunny, the bell rang in the morning and a sleepy crowd of students yawned their way into the high school for their third week of school. Among them was a teenage boy with dark brown hair that he wore spiked up in the front. He wore faded blue jeans and had a dark brown bag flung over one of his shoulders. 

“Stiles!” The high school junior turned in the hallway at the sound of his name. He grinned and waved at the girl with curly brown hair who was hurrying towards him with a smile on her face. 

“Hey Andy,” Stiles said. 

“Good grief, are you still wearing that thing in public? How old is it?” She pinched the sleeve of his green jacket. Stiles yanked it out of her grasp. 

“I happen to like it,” he informed her. “Besides, what else do you want me to wear, your stuff?” Andy smoothed down her flower print skirt with one hand, covering a laugh with the other. 

“You’d look so pretty,” she said teasingly. “It wouldn’t be the first time.” 

“I was what, three? I don't think that counts.” 

“Well, it’s your loss. Wearing a skirt when it’s hot out is the smartest thing to do.” Andy said. “Did you get the math homework done? Mom wouldn’t let me use my com for it.” 

“Mr. Colton would be proud,” Stiles said, putting his hands on his hips and shifting into an imitation of their math teacher. “’Coms are destroying the purity of math, which can only be truly known through the mind.’” Andy grinned. 

“Seriously, it’s 2125. Who’s scared of technology these days?” 

“Mr. Colton for one.” Stiles waved his hands to indicate the building around them as they walked down the hall. A passing freshman was forced to duck to avoid being hit. “Maybe all the teachers here. I bet that’s why this place is still here instead of us getting Com School like normal people. The things I could do if school was as easy as just grabbing my com.” He touched the shiny blue box tucked into his pants pocket. The technology was so common that he rarely thought twice about using his com unit for everything and anything. Coms had been around for at least the last twenty years. There were as many types of coms as there were types of people. They were used for internet browsing, video calling, text messaging, and anything else a person could get the hardware or program the software for. 

“Like never get out of bed?” Andy touched her own com, a wearable type that fit around her wrist in a silvery band. “Coms are convenient, but I kind of like coming to an actual building.” Stiles gave her an incredulous look. 

“You actually like getting out of your nice soft bed and coming to this ancient building?” Andy laughed, shaking her head. 

“You’re just lazy. This building is pretty old though,” she said. “People say all kinds of crazy stuff about it. I heard a rumor that there’s even some kind of secret room under it,” Andy said. Stiles snorted. 

“Who told you that?” 

“Ellie.” Andy shrugged. “I didn’t say it was true.” 

“You’d just love it if it were,” Stiles teased as they entered a classroom and took their seats next to each other. “Who was it who always wanted to find creepy paranormal stuff when we were five? Maybe there is a secret room and it’s haunted.” He made wiggly motions with the fingers of one hand as he put his bag on the floor next to him. 

“Oh, shut up!” Andy shoved Stiles’ shoulder. “So says the boy who read every mystery novel file available on his com by middle school. At least half of those were paranormal.” 

“It’s hard to believe he’s maintained that level of weirdness all these years,” a third voice said. Stiles looked over his shoulder at the girl who was sliding into the seat behind Andy’s. She smirked at him as she tucked some of her blonde hair behind one ear. Stiles tried to ignore his heartbeat speeding up at the sight of her. 

“Come on, Ellie, you’ve got to admit Andy’s weird too, especially for anything that could be paranormal,” he said. 

“You are not getting me into the middle of this,” she announced, placing her cherry red com on the desk in front of her. It was the exact same color as the lipstick she wore almost every day. “Especially since you wouldn’t want to know what I’d have to say. I know too much about both of you.” 

“Did you finish the math?” Andy asked. “I thought it was kind of difficult.” 

“Of course I did.” Ellie pulled a sheet of paper out of her bag and laid it on her desk next to her com. 

“You wrote it by hand?” Stiles asked in disbelief. 

“So did I,” Andy pointed out. 

“Only because your mom made you.” 

“And yours is so resigned to how you do things she doesn’t bother to try anymore?” Stiles just grinned. 

“The way she usually puts it is that she picks her battles.” The door opened and Mr. Colton walked in. He was an older man with steel gray hair that stuck out around the bald spot that had been developing on the back of his head for years. The wrinkles on his forehead were a testament to how often he scowled. He was doing so as he flung his materials onto the teacher’s desk. Stiles noted that, as usual, there was no sign of a com. Mr. Colton was notorious for his hate of technology, even something like a com unit that had been around for ages. 

“All right, settle down!” He snapped. “If you did your homework by hand, like I asked, pass it up.” Stiles slouched in his chair to avoid being singled out. The math teacher wasn’t very fond of him, probably because Stiles liked new technology so much and refused to stop using it just because it made his teacher cantankerous. Usually they existed in a kind of angry stalemate with each other, but Stiles didn’t see any need to draw attention to himself if he didn’t have to. He was opening a note taking file on his com, which readily displayed its laser keyboard onto the tabletop in front of him, when he started feeling an itch between his shoulder blades. The feeling increased, becoming a pressure that made him sure that someone was watching him. He glanced hopefully back at Ellie, but she was taking neat notes in a notebook, her pencil moving busily across the page. Stiles scanned the room. No one seemed to be looking at him, but the feeling was still there. With a frown he turned all the way around in his seat, trying to catch someone’s eyes on him. 

“Stilinski!” Mr. Colton’s hand slammed onto his desk, making him jump. “If you insist on ignoring my rules on technology, the least you could do is grace us with your attention.” 

“Uh. Sorry,” Stiles muttered. He looked over at Andy, who just grinned at him. As his heartrate slowed back to normal after being startled by Colton, Stiles realized that he still felt someone’s eyes on him. He risked one more glance around but still couldn’t find anyone who was looking at him. Even Andy was back to focusing on her work. Feeling unsettled, Stiles turned back to the front and tried to focus. 

At lunch, Stiles was flipping through the history notes on his com when Andy set her tray of food next to him. She peered over his shoulder at the semi-transparent holographic screen that he was squinting at. 

“Do we have a quiz I forgot about or something?” 

“Nah. I was just thinking about this morning.” Andy sat down, tilting her head in pretend thought. 

“Which part, when Colton chewed you out about your homework for the hundredth time after class?” 

“Before that.” 

“Oh, when he caught you staring at everyone instead of paying attention?” 

“No!” Stiles shook his head and put out his hands to stop anything else she was going to say. “Before class, okay? The bit about the school being here forever.” 

“Oh. That.” Andy took a bite of apple, clearly not interested. 

“Yes, that.” Stiles waved his hands in vague circles. Andy leaned out of the way of the fork he was still holding in one of them. “It’s been in the back of my brain all morning. I feel like it got mentioned in history once, at least in passing, and that I wrote something down about it, but I can’t find it.” 

“You sure you didn’t fall asleep and imagine it?” Andy asked. “It wouldn’t be the first time.” 

“Ha ha,” Stiles said. “It’s not my fault that that class is boring. And yes I’m sure. It was like, at the beginning of the year sometime, when we were talking about historical buildings. ” He glared at his notes for a moment and then looked up with a frown as something occurred to him. “Hey, where’s Ellie? Don’t you two have class together before lunch?” He scanned the room. There was no sign of her between the small round tables that filled the room, or at the windows where the Nutrition Generators were making people’s lunches to order. 

“Colton wanted her for something,” Andy said vaguely. “He came in to get her right before the bell rang. You’ll have to moon over her later.” Stiles ignored the jab about his longtime crush. Andy loved to tease him about it, but experience told him that if he responded to the first dig that it would only get worse. 

“Did he say what he wanted?” 

“Colton? Nope. He just came in and told her to come with him.” Andy shrugged as she put down her apple core. “Does it matter?” 

“Maybe not. Colton doesn’t usually just grab people to do stuff for him though.” 

“Well, I’m pretty sure he’s not using her for a ritual to open a portal to hell in the basement, so she’s probably fine,” Andy said. 

“You never know, they could be opening the portal in the gym instead,” Stiles said as he went back to his history notes, tapping his fork absentmindedly on the table. 

“Why are you even curious about this?” Andy asked after a while. “So the building’s old, so what? It’s been remodeled plenty of times.” 

“It’s unusual, that’s all.” Stiles wasn’t really focused on Andy anymore. His eyes had caught on motion across the room. Ellie had just walked in. She was laughing and had a flirtatious look on her face. Stiles hated that look. It was never directed at him and it invariably meant weeks of putting up with Ellie talking about her latest love interest. She also liked to have him and Andy come and spend time with her and her date. Since she usually only dated boys that didn’t like Stiles at all, he had to put up with subtle jabs the entire time. Stiles dreaded the times when Ellie had a new boy – or, more often, an old boy for a second chance – in her life. He looked to see who was on the receiving end this time, expecting Mark Johnson or one of the other varsity terri-cross stars that Ellie had dated before. 

“Who is that? He blurted. Andy glanced up from her lunch to where Stiles was looking Ellie was being followed by a dark skinned boy wearing an old fashioned leather jacket. His hands were shoved into the pockets of a pair of blue jeans every bit as worn out as Stiles’. He was smiling at Ellie as he responded to something she’d said, but his eyes were busy scanning the room. Stiles watched him take in the crowds of people playing games on their coms, laughing as someone told a story, eating various foods, or studying last minute for a test. When he looked at the table where Andy and Stiles were sitting, his eyes widened. Stiles was surprised when he didn’t continue to look around the room. He stayed fixated on the two of them as he wove through the tables behind Ellie, ignoring the curious looks that people gave him as he passed. 

“Hi guys!” Ellie said, walking up and stopping at her friends’ table. People around them were whispering as they pointed to the boy with her. Stiles couldn’t blame them. Most of the people here had been in school together since they were in elementary school, so someone new was unusual. The boy seemed to be ignoring them. He was still looking at Stiles intently, like he was trying to memorize his face. 

“So what did Colton want?” Andy asked. Ellie gave her an exasperated look. 

“He wanted me to show a new student around,” she said. “He appears to have decided that I’m responsible, so he recommended me to the office.” 

“Shows what he knows,” Stiles said. He was starting to feel uncomfortable with how this guy was staring at him. He experimentally scooted over to his left. The stare followed him. 

“These are my friends, Andy and Stiles,” Ellie said to the new student, pointing to each of them. “This is-” 

“Scott,” he interrupted. “Scott McCall.” He licked his lips in a nervous kind of way, his eyes flickering to Andy’s face and then back to Stiles. 

“Hi,” Andy said with a little wave. Stiles raised his eyebrows and turned back to his com’s holo-screen. From the looks of this guy, Mark Johnson and the other senior terri-cross players would assimilate him in a week. There was muscle under that leather jacket and New Guy was definitely built for sports. If that was the case, Stiles wasn’t going to waste his time. Ellie’s crushes were easier if he just laid low until they were over anyway. He scrolled up a few pages in his notes, eyes scanning for any information on the school. He could have sworn there was something he’d written down. As he read, Stiles was distracted by the returning feeling that he was being watched. He looked up. New Guy was talking to Ellie and Andy, but his eyes kept coming back to Stiles as if they were magnetically attracted to him. Stiles decided to ignore him and turned back to his notes, determinedly not looking up. It didn’t take long for him to realize that he couldn’t process the words on the screen with the pressure of that stare. Stiles made a face and shut the screen down with a wave of his hand before turning to New Guy. 

“Can I help you?” he snapped. “It’s kind of hard to read with someone staring a hole through my head.” New Guy looked surprised, then confused. 

“Uh,” he said. “I just thought…” he trailed off, his look now changing into something Stiles mentally labeled as a “hurt puppy face”. He didn’t say anything else. Ellie was glaring at Stiles from behind him, obviously not pleased. Stiles suppressed a groan of annoyance. If she was this annoyed at him already, it could be months until she was completely over this guy. That meant months that he’d have to deal with trying to be nice to another brainless jock who wouldn’t like him one bit. 

“You just thought,” he said. “Thought what exactly? From the look of things you don’t have much thought going on in your head at all.” 

“Stiles!” Andy looked torn between amusement and exasperation. New Guy was standing there as if he’d been turned into a statue. The hurt puppy face was still at full strength. For some reason, looking at it only served to irritate Stiles more. He stood up and grabbed his com and his bag. 

“I’m going to go find a spot with less creepy stares. See you in class,” he told Andy before turning and marching off. He heard Ellie behind him. 

“What’s with Stiles?” 

“Besides the usual” Andy asked. Stiles could tell she was definitely entertained, though trying not to show it. “So, Scott. Where…” Stiles didn’t catch the rest of the sentence. He could feel the pressure of those eyes continuing to stare at him all the way out the door. 

When health class started, Stiles noticed with a lack of enthusiasm that New Guy was sitting right next to Ellie a few seats back from him. He slumped into his chair and crossed his arms, looking determinedly anywhere but behind him. A highly amused looking Andy slid into her seat in front of him and turned to look at him. 

“You seem to be having a splendid day,” she observed. 

“It’s absolutely lovely,” Stiles retorted. “What’s New Guy doing in here?” 

“Scott,” she corrected. “And he doesn’t have his own schedule until next week, so he’s just following Ellie to her classes for now.” 

“Fantastic.” Stiles unfolded his arms so that he could grab his com out of his bag. Andy seemed about to say something, but was stopped by the arrival of Coach Carrol. She settled for a shrug as she turned back to the front of the room. 

Health had never been Stiles’ favorite class. Coach Carrol, who was in charge of the terri-cross team, had never been very fond of Stiles to begin with. She put up with him on the team but that was the extent of her interest in him. Besides that, Stiles didn't see the point of learning about eliminated diseases when he could just use his com to find out the same information in about five minutes. Thankfully Coach’s indifference towards him meant that she rarely called on him at all, so he was able to space out as she started talking. He only tuned back in when he heard New Guy start answering one of her questions. Since Stiles had missed the original question, he had no idea if the answer was anywhere close to correct, but Coach seemed pleased. 

“Very good. I could wish for a whole class of students like you if that’s any example of what you know.” Her eyes rested on Stiles, who gave her his brightest smile. As she started talking again, Stiles risked a glance backwards. Ellie was practically glowing at New Guy, who had his eyes on Stiles yet again. 

Stiles found himself wondering if he could get away with punching someone in the face in the middle of class. 

By the end of the day, Stiles could have won a gold medal in the Bad Mood Olympics. The only other class he had with Ellie in the afternoon, Programming, had resulted in more time trying to ignore New Guy watching him like he was an animal in a zoo. His only consolation was that he was much better than New Guy when it came to writing code, but it wasn’t much of one. True to his own predictions, Stiles had seen Mark Johnson approach New Guy in the hall. He hadn’t stayed to see the results but was pretty sure that he’d be seeing Ellie’s newest crush at terri-cross practice later in the week. Andy found him at the end of the day as he was slouching down the hall towards the doors. 

“Hey, are you busy after school today? I couldn’t remember if there was terri-cross practice tonight or not.” 

“Day off today. Practice tomorrow.” Andy raised her eyebrows when she heard his tone of voice. 

“What’s the matter with you?” She asked, following him out the doors of the school. 

“Being stared at all afternoon will do that to a person.” Stiles glared at his friend when she started laughing. 

“I didn’t realize it was that easy to annoy you,” she said. “Come on Stiles, Scott’s new here. Cut him some slack.” 

“Oh yeah, that’s what I’d do if I moved to a new school, choose some random person to stare at all day like I’m trying to set them on fire with my mind.” 

“Stiles…” 

“Seriously, Andy. I don’t know what that guy’s problem is, but if he doesn’t fix it soon I’m going to end up trying to squash him with his own desk.” 

“While I’m sure that would be entertaining to watch, probably not your smartest move.” Andy stopped by her car. “So if you don’t have practice until tomorrow, do you want to come hang out for a while? Your mom works late on Wednesdays, right?” 

“Yeah, she’s got the night shift.” Stiles’ mom worked at the local power station, helping maintain the wind farm outside of town and making sure that the grid was up and working. 

“Then hop in.” Andy climbed into the driver’s seat. As soon as Stiles slid into the other side, she drove off. As they left the school behind, Stiles sighed with relief as he finally got rid of the feeling that someone was watching him. Andy shot him a glance. 

“Really though,” she said. “Did Scott bother you that badly? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you decide you don’t like someone so fast, and that’s saying something.” Stiles shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. He didn’t really know what to start with. There was the way Ellie had decided to be best friends – and if he was any judge, more than best friends – within about twenty minutes of meeting the guy. There was the way that everyone in the hallway seemed to be practically falling over themselves to meet him. The way that New Guy had been staring at Stiles all day didn’t exactly help either. 

“He didn’t exactly make a great first impression,” Stiles said. “Let’s just put it that way.” 

“If you say so.” Andy turned a corner. “He seemed interested in hanging out with us though.” Stiles, thinking about how Ellie had been looking at him all afternoon, found that he wasn’t exactly surprised. Disgusted, but not surprised. 

“Whatever. I’m not going to hold my breath for him to become our new best friend,” he informed Andy as she parked outside her house. 

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” she replied as she got out of the car and grabbed her bag. They walked together up to the front door of her house, which she unlocked by scanning her com in front of a small sensor. Stiles had spent almost as much time in this house as his own growing up and headed straight for the kitchen. He grabbed a bag of chips off the counter and opened them, flinging himself into a chair at the table with a sigh. Andy joined him and stole a chip. 

“Oh yeah, did you find what you were looking for in your history notes?” She asked him. 

“Yeah.” Stiles swallowed a mouthful of chips and reached for more. “It wasn’t much. All they say is that the school is one of the oldest buildings in Beacon Hills.” 

“Well at least you didn’t imagine it after all,” Andy teased. 

“Hey, I have a better memory than you. You didn’t think we’d talked about it at all.” Stiles reached for the last chip but Andy beat him to it, popping it into her mouth with a smile. 

“Well, Mr. Great Memory, hopefully you remember everything from math today,” she said after she swallowed, standing and heading to the coffee maker. “Ellie said Colton hinted to her that he was planning a pop quiz tomorrow.” 

“Lovely.” Stiles stretched with a groan. “Homework is the worst.” 

“Considering how fast you get it done, you have no room to complain.” Andy handed him a mug of coffee and slid into her chair. “Now come on, get out your notes.” Stiles grumbled as he pulled up the file on his com. As he and Andy started reviewing them, he had to admit that at least it was easier to study without someone staring at you. ¬¬¬¬ 

The relief from being stared at lasted only overnight. When Stiles walked into math the next morning, there was New Guy, now in the seat behind him. He smiled when he saw Stiles, who immediately felt his irritation levels rising. He sat down in his seat, purposefully ignoring New Guy as he pulled his com out of his pocket and put it onto his desk with unneeded emphasis. He pulled up the holo-screen and opened a random page of notes from math, glaring at the hovering screen determinedly to hopefully get the point across that he was not even a little bit interested in having a conversation this morning. 

“Good morning!” Stiles glanced up from the screen as Ellie walked in. He could immediately tell that she’d put some extra thought into her appearance today. She was wearing a bright blue dress, a light brown sweater, and her favorite bright red lipstick. She smiled at New Guy before turning to Stiles. 

“Wow, something’s got you in a great mood this morning,” she said. “Why are you looking at notes from last semester?” 

“Does it matter?” He asked. Ellie pursed her lips as she sat down. 

“I can see there’s no talking to you right now.” She sat down and looked at New Guy. “Did you talk to Coach Carrol last night, Scott?” 

“Yeah,” he said. “She said I can come to practice today and we’ll see what happens.” 

“Great!” Ellie smiled at him. “Maybe I’ll have to come watch.” 

“Fantastic,” Stiles muttered, turning back around and closing his holo-screen. He’d suspected that New Guy was going to join the team, but he wasn’t looking forward to an extra hour of dealing with him after school. Andy came in and sat down, exchanging greetings with Ellie and New Guy before looking at Stiles. Taking in the look on his face, how he was slouching in his chair, and his tightly folded arms, she seemed to decide that trying to talk to him wasn’t worth it. 

Despite Stiles doing everything short of screaming in New Guy’s face that he didn’t want anything to do with him, he didn’t seem to get the hint. He always made a point of saying hello to Stiles when he saw him, either in class or in the hallway. Whenever they were in the same class, Stiles would invariably feel the prickle at the back of his neck that meant if he turned he’d see New Guy once again staring at him. When Stiles decided his lunch would be better spent sitting outside to avoid him, Andy was more than happy to tell him that New Guy had asked where he was at least three times. 

“I honestly don’t know why you’re so angry about this,” she told Stiles at the end of the day. “Scott’s just trying to be friendly.” 

“He is creeping me out, is what he’s doing,” Stiles told her. “If you haven’t noticed, people aren’t exactly lining up to try and be friends with me.” 

“When you give them so much encouragement to do so?” Andy asked. “Stiles, seriously, he’s not that bad.” 

“I will take your word for it. In the meantime, I don’t need to confirm that in person.” 

“You’re impossible,” Andy said with a sigh. “You’re going to practice today?” 

“Yeah. Not that I think I’ll be doing much, but I’ll be there.” 

“Cool. See you after, then. Ellie wants to watch.” 

“How could I forget?” Stiles muttered, walking into the locker room to change. He’d always liked the idea of playing terri-cross, even though it had taken years to get the sport started in Beacon Hills. It was a game based off of lacrosse, which he understood had been popular years ago in the town. When holographic technology became more available, people had invented a new version of the game using it. Every game was played in a different environment. The ground was physically changed, causing the players to have to adjust their footing to play on grassy fields, rocky slopes, or sand filled deserts. Players had to pass to their teammates and score while also ignoring the other holograms on the field; trees for forests, cacti for the desert, and so on. Those could be passed through without a second thought, but it took some practice to get used to it. Stiles remembered one game where the terrain had been an ice field. With the slippery terrain, cold air being blasted in, and holographic penguins, even the best players had been sliding around half the time. He smiled as he walked out to the arena. No one had been prepared for that game. Stiles had neglected to tell anyone that he’d hacked the sensors and changed the terrain on purpose. 

“All right, listen up!” Coach Carrol walked in front of her team, hands on her hips. “We have a new recruit joining us today. He tells me he’s new to the sport, but we’ll see how he does. Most of you have already probably met Scott, so we’ll skip long, boring introductions.” Scott, standing next to her, waved sheepishly at the rest of the team. Coach touched some buttons on her wrist-com and the field shimmered, changing into a rocky slope. “We’re practicing mountain terrains today! Let’s see you run!” She smacked Scott’s shoulder and stepped out of the way. 

Practice confirmed what Stiles had already suspected from his first meeting with New Guy; he was definitely good at sports. He seemed a little startled by each terrain change, but seemed to adapt with ease. He was fast, accurate when he threw the ball, and seemed to be pretty good at guarding the goal too. Stiles suspected that it wouldn’t even take him too long to get used to the holograms. The sounds of Ellie cheering him on from the stands only helped make Stiles more irritated. If he hadn’t already been on edge from the rest of the day, he probably would have been much more amused at the affronted look on Mark Johnson’s face when New Guy was the first one to receive praise from Coach Carrol after their scrimmage. He could already sense a future where Mark was torn between wanting to incorporate New Guy into the popular crowd and wanting to knock him down a few pegs to establish dominance. 

After practice, Stiles made a point of showering and changing as fast as possible before leaving out the back door of the school to avoid talking to anyone. Andy had been sitting with Ellie in the stands earlier. He guessed that Ellie was going to be waiting for New Guy and that Andy would be waiting for Ellie. Walking home, Stiles moodily kicked at a rock on the sidewalk. He kept telling himself that the fuss over New Guy would blow over, but the more he thought about it the less likely it seemed. Ellie very clearly had her sights set on him, and she didn’t exactly give up easily. If she started dating him and New Guy ended up hanging out with Mark and his cronies, then that meant at least a few months of Ellie being vaulted to popular girl status. It had happened before and it always sucked to see Ellie walk right past him on the arm of some other guy. 

Stiles got home and took a second shower, since the one at school had been rushed. Afterwards he pulled out his com and started his homework, having nothing better to do. He’d worked his way through almost all of it when his com pinged with a message from Andy. He ignored it. It pinged several more times before going quiet. Stiles was considering whether the optional health assignment was worth his time when his com started ringing insistently. He groaned and favored the device with a really impressive glower before clicking the answer button. 

“What.” 

“Don’t ‘what’ me.” The holo-screen appeared out of his com to show Andy’s face. “Stiles, where did you go? We were all waiting for you.” Stiles made a noncommittal noise. Andy glared at him through the screen. Her cheeks were red, always a sure sign that she was upset. 

“I just didn’t feel like talking to anyone,” He said when it was clear she was going to continue glaring at him until she got a response. 

“I didn’t think practice was that bad today,” Andy said. “You were doing pretty well, actually.” Stiles winced. 

“I hadn’t been thinking about it that much,” He admitted. “I was working on my homework.” 

“You went straight home and started working on your homework?” Andy asked in disbelief. “Stiles, are you feeling okay? Are you sick?” 

“Very funny.” He stretched his arms above his head, feeling his elbow pop as he did. “Look, I’m kind of tired. Can we talk tomorrow?” 

“Are you sure you’re not sick?” Andy asked. “I’m not joking, Stiles, this isn’t like you.” Her upset face had dissolved into one that clearly showed she was worried about him. Stiles wished she didn’t know him so well sometimes. It made it harder to put her off. 

“I’m sure,” he said. “Later Andy.” He clicked off the holo-screen and successfully ignored his com when it pinged again moments later. With a sigh he shoved himself away from his desk and went downstairs to seek food. He was taking a bite out of a large sandwich when the front door opened and his mom came in. He waved, his mouth full, and she smiled at him. 

“Hey sweetie.” She hung her coat on the hook by the door and ran her hands through her long brown hair with a sigh. “How was school?” Stiles chewed and swallowed. 

“School was school,” he said. “You look tired.” 

“Long day at work,” she admitted, coming into the kitchen and grabbing a mug. She fumbled in the cupboard for a tea bag while Stiles reached around her to turn on the hot water. By the time the tea bag was in the cup, the water was ready. Mrs. Stilinski shot her son a grateful look as she poured it into the mug and inhaled the steam with a happy smile. 

“Trouble with the wind farms?” Stiles asked, taking another bite out of his sandwich. 

“Not exactly. There was a grid problem with the apartments over on the other side of town. You know, the Yukimura Apartments building?” Stiles licked some mustard off of one of his fingers. 

“That’s not the first time you’ve had problems with them, is it?” 

“Nope.” Mrs. Stilinski took a sip of her tea. “Anyway, we had to send people out there to try to take care of it. There’s no problem with the wiring as far as we can tell, but if we keep having the same kinds of problems we’re going to have to re-do the whole thing anyway just so it looks like we’re doing something.” She took another drink of tea and then walked over to the fridge, rummaging with one hand and pulling out a container of leftover pasta. 

“Maybe it’s a computer error instead of an actual error,” Stiles suggested. His mom tilted her head to one side, considering. 

“It could be. I’ll have Shaun look into it tomorrow.” She put the pasta in to reheat and gave her son a weary look. “Now, did you do your homework?” 

“Already done,” Stiles said smugly. His mom’s eyes widened and she reached out to feel his forehead. 

“Are you sick or something?” 

“Mom!” He swatted her hand away. “Seriously, you and Andy. Maybe I just felt like doing it.” 

“Hmmmm.” Mrs. Stilinski didn’t look convinced as she took the teabag out of her mug. “Practice go okay?” 

“Yeah.” Stiles leaned over and kissed his mom on the cheek. “I’m going back upstairs for now. Let me know if you need me.” 

“All right. Thanks Stiles.” She reached out and patted his shoulder before going to get her pasta. Stiles went back up the stairs, chewing on his sandwich and thinking that maybe he’d do some more research on how old the school building was as long as he didn’t have anything else to do. 

The next day was Friday. Stiles spent the day dodging New Guy as much as possible. This unfortunately also meant that he was dodging Andy and Ellie, since they seemed to have adopted Scott. He spent lunch outside again, looking at records of buildings in Beacon Hills and making notes in a separate com file. Breaks between classes he spent in the bathroom until the last possible moment, meaning that he slid into class as the bell was ringing several times. Andy, whenever she was in one of those classes, spent it glaring at him. He ignored both her and the looks that New Guy was continuing to give him, counting down the hours until the end of the day. 

When school ended Stiles decided that his best bet was to skip terri-cross practice. Coach wouldn’t miss him, and he had a better chance of avoiding Andy that way. He could sense that her anger had been growing all day and he really, really didn’t want to deal with it. Stiles walked towards the locker room at the end of the day, but instead of going in headed to the entrance the janitors used to reach the dumpsters. Looking around, he dodged out and headed home by a route that didn’t put him anywhere near the terri-cross field. He had been settled into his desk chair for an hour or so, doing more research on the school building, when a knock on his doorframe made him look up. Andy was standing there. He mentally berated himself for not remembering that he’d put a key for his house into her com. 

“Avoiding people much?” She asked tartly. 

“Sorry.” Stiles shrugged and turned back to his desk. 

“Well you don’t sound very sorry.” Andy came in and sat on his bed. “Ellie was saying that she wants to go visit the holo-domes tonight, since it’s a Friday. Scott says he’s never been to one before.” 

“Doesn’t that sound nice. Afterwards, maybe I could get in a bathtub of acid and burn my skin off.” Reflected in his window, Stiles saw Andy cross her arms and glare at the back of his head. 

“All right, what gives? I’ve seen you get jealous over Ellie before, but this is getting ridiculous.” Stiles rolled his eyes and swiveled around in his chair to face his childhood friend. 

“Oh yes, clearly this is all about Ellie.” 

“Well, if not her then what?” Andy had the stubborn look on her face that said she wasn’t going to budge until Stiles answered her question. He knew better than to try and outwait that look. Rather than backing off on his assertion that it wasn’t about Ellie, even though it was, at least partially, Stiles tried a different strategy. 

“I just don’t like New Guy, that’s all.” 

“You mean Scott?” She said. “How would you even know if you like him, Stiles? You’ve been avoiding him like he’s carrying the plague or something.” 

“Get real Andy,” Stiles said. “New Guy-” 

“Scott-” 

“Waltzes in here on Wednesday,” Stiles said, plowing over Andy’s correction. “That was what, two days ago? He’s already got girls practically drooling all over him, he’s a shoe in for starting in next week’s terri-cross game if this week’s anything to go by, and he’s practically making Colton swoon with his handwritten notes and homework.” 

“You don’t like him because he’s popular?” Andy said disbelievingly. “Stiles, you would snatch all of that up in an instant if you could.” 

“Doesn’t mean I can’t hate the guy who’s got it now,” Stiles retorted. “Besides, he’s instantly popular. That kind of stuff happens in bad movies. I didn’t even know people like that could exist in real life, and now that I do, I definitely don’t like it.” He turned back to his desk, hoping that was enough to make Andy drop the topic. He didn’t feel like bringing up how creepy it felt when New Guy stared at him all through a class, or pushed through a crowd to try and talk to him. Scott McCall was too perfect. If Stiles was any judge, there had to be something to balance out that perfection. The other shoe was going to drop eventually, and Stiles didn’t want to be there when it did. 

“I wish you’d give him a chance,” Andy was saying. “He’s kind of upset that you’ve been avoiding him.” 

“Why?” Stiles asked reasonably, his eyes following the words flashing on his screen. “He doesn’t even know me. There’s people falling all over themselves to be his friend. Let New Guy go bother one of them instead.” When there was no response, Stiles glanced back at Andy. She looked upset. 

“Andy, come on,” he said. “You know me better than anyone. This guy just rubs me wrong, okay?” She sighed. 

“And…?” she prompted him. Stiles made a face. 

“Fine. And I’m kind of jealous because of Ellie. Happy?” 

“More than just a little jealous if I’m any judge of the situation,” she said. “Stiles, I know you like her, but you shouldn’t let yourself get so worked up about it.” 

“Normally the guys she’s into aren’t weirdly obsessed with me. In fact, normally they hate me. I think that’s plenty of cause not to trust this guy.” Andy just rolled her eyes. 

“You’re annoyed when they don’t like you and you have to hang out with them, and now you’re annoyed when one does like you. Is it safe to say that you just don’t like anyone that Ellie’s interested in who isn’t you?” 

“If we’re being honest, I probably don’t like at least ninety percent of the people at our school. Give or take five percent.” Andy shook her head. 

“How do you have any friends with this kind of attitude?” Stiles grinned. 

“You got stuck with me at age three, and the rest is history.” A smile tugged at the corners of Andy’s lips. 

“Lucky me. Fine, I’ll let you wiggle out of coming tonight. I don’t think you’re going to be able to avoid Scott forever though.” 

“Trust me, in a few weeks he’ll be hanging out with Mark Johnson and his crew and won’t even remember I exist. Probably in less time than that even. Then it’s just a matter of waiting until Ellie’s over him, and life can go on.” Stiles waved as he turned back to his research. “Have fun.” 

“I think you’re wrong, but we will. Later.” Andy’s footsteps faded as she walked out of the room and down the stairs. Stiles wondered for a moment if she was right about Scott not giving up. He’d never interacted with someone quite so determined. With a shake of his head, he pushed the thoughts aside. Scott McCall would be out of his hair before too long, and he could go back to his life as usual. He opened a new window on his com and continued reading. 

It wasn’t until his com started pinging with pictures from Andy of her and Ellie smiling in a holographic rainforest that Stiles started feeling restless. He glared at their grins and then banished the picture with a flap of his hand, flopping back on his bed and glaring at the ceiling. Looking through records of Beacon Hills for the last several hours had his head spinning with facts. He needed to get out of his room. 

The weird thing, he reflected as he grabbed his com and swung his legs off the bed, was that it wasn’t just the school. Most of the buildings in Beacon Hills were pretty old. He shoved a foot into his shoe as he groped with one hand for his favorite jacket where he’d flung it with the rest of his school things. In fact, ignoring remodels and technology additions, most of the buildings were at least 100 years old. Given how fast the rest of the country had been rebuilding that was statistically unusual. 

Stiles paused in his thought process to consider his options. He debated sneaking down to the back door for freedom, but re-considered. His mom was down there and would want to know where he was going, and he didn’t feel like explaining. Instead, he opened the window of his room and squinted at his other option. Leaning out, he was just able to grab a tree branch, which he inched along until he could drop down onto another. He climbed down the tree with the ease of experience until he was a foot off the ground. Stiles then jumped out of the tree, landed on a sharp rock, and crashed to the ground with a flailing of arms and legs. 

“Ow,” he hissed. “Typical.” He looked towards the house nervously, but there was no sign of his mom coming out of the house to ask what the hell he was doing. Stiles released the breath he’d been holding and slowly dragged himself to his feet. He felt bruised, but nothing worse. Shaking out the arm he’d landed on, Stiles began walking down the street. 

One of the things he had noticed in his research was how unusual it was for there to be a large patch of forest like the one in Beacon Hills. National Forests still stood, but most of those were miles outside of cities or towns, which generally had some plants but mostly relied on air cleaning technologies. It was odd, but Stiles had never given the forest a second thought before. It was just there. He and Andy had played there as kids. Animals lived there, species Stiles had spent months cataloguing when he was nine. It had always just been another aspect of life. Now, as he tried to calm down from the stress of the last two days, he let his feet take him there. 

In the darkness, the trees loomed tall and dark around Stiles. He brought up a light on his com to make sure that he wouldn’t fall as he crossed small streams and clambered over rocks. The forest had always made him feel safe somehow. Andy had always made up stories of monsters living there when they were young; Werewolves hiding behind trees, fox spirits lurking behind bushes, strange giant lizards that would try to eat you up. Stiles had always laughed. The forest never seemed scary to him, no matter what stories she came up with. Researchers had been postulating about the existence of supernatural creatures for years now. Despite the lack of proof, Andy was always interested in it and wanted Stiles to be too. 

“What if they’re right?” Stiles had heard her say it often enough that he could practically hear her voice beside him. “They could be here in Beacon Hills, Stiles. We could meet them someday!” 

“Sure,” Stiles would always respond, “and when we do, we’ll get pulled into epic adventures, right?” 

“It could happen!” Andy would say indignantly before letting Stiles change the subject. He laughed a little to himself now, remembering. 

“Good old Andy,” he said. As if answering him, his com pinged. Andy had sent him another picture, this time of her and Ellie at Stiles’ favorite ice cream place in front of massive sundaes. He was trying to think of a sarcastic reply when something suddenly occurred to him. With a frown, he stopped walking and flicked through the last seven pictures Andy had sent him. They were all of her and Ellie. There was no sign of New Guy, who was apparently the reason they were going in the first place. 

“What the heck?” Stiles asked a picture of his two friends. He opened a window to send them a message when a branch snapped somewhere behind him. Stiles whirled, the light of his com arcing through the air as he flailed his arms to keep his balance. When he managed to focus the light behind him, it shone on empty forest. Stiles cautiously moved forward, looking for any sign of movement. He stopped when he reached a spot where a tree had fallen, starting to feel unsettled. They were rare, but there were dangerous animals out here. 

Looking around again, something caught Stiles’ eye. He climbed over the fallen tree and stopped by the shadow of a huge tree that was still standing, squinting at the ground. He crouched down to look more closely. There were footprints, human ones, by the tree. Stiles moved his light so that he could see as much of them as possible. The tread didn’t match the shoes he was wearing. Was someone else out in the forest this late? Stiles jumped to his feet and quickly shone the light all around. There wasn’t a sign of another person, and yet he was starting to get the too familiar feeling that someone was watching him. 

“Hello?” He said and then winced at his own stupidity. If someone else was out here and wanted him to know about it, they’d have already said something to him. The fact that he couldn’t see them meant that they probably wanted to stay hidden, which didn’t speak well for what they might be out here for. 

“Okay. Deep breath, Stilinski,” he whispered to himself. Turning back to the footprints, he snapped a picture of them with his com before starting to head back the way he’d come, faster than before. The feeling of being watched didn’t stop. By the time he exited the forest, Stiles was almost running. He didn’t stop until he reached the tree outside his window. Climbing up as quickly as he could without making a racket that would wake up the entire neighborhood, he pushed himself through and slammed the glass behind him, breathing hard. 

“What were you doing in the forest in the first place?” Andy asked as she dropped down on the other side of a fallen log, her brown boots hitting the ground with a small thump. 

“I already told you, I was just taking a walk!” 

“A walk at night, alone, in a forest that has wild animals in it.” 

“I didn’t say it was a good plan.” Stiles stopped walking and looked around. In the daylight of a Saturday morning, the trees looked a lot different. Andy, just a few steps behind him, crossed her arms and watched him. He’d called her on her com first thing this morning, needing to tell someone about the encounter in the woods that had kept him up half the night. 

“Why do you even want to go back there? You got a picture of the footprints, right?” 

“There might be other evidence,” Stiles said absently. “I think it’s this way.” 

“I am so reminding you of this the next time you try to get out of coming to hang out with us,” Andy said as she followed her friend. “We actually had fun instead of running away from possible murderers in the forest.” 

“I don’t know, I don’t think you took enough pictures,” Stiles said dryly, ducking under a low hanging branch. 

“I have no idea what you mean.” Stiles glanced over his shoulder to see Andy grinning at him. 

“You know exactly what I mean,” he told her. “I was going to ask, what was up with those? Did you make New Guy take all the pictures?” Andy shook her head, her curly hair bouncing. 

“Scott didn’t make it actually. Ellie was pretty disappointed.” She flicked a bug off of the sleeve of her denim jacket. “We ended up making it a girl’s night instead.” 

“I don’t know why you bothered sending me pictures then. You never let me come along on those anyway.” Stiles stopped walking as he spotted a large fallen tree lying on the ground. “Here, I think this is it.” He looked around until he spotted the tree where the footprints were. Walking over, he crouched down and pointed to the still visible prints. Andy peered at them over his shoulder. 

“They could have been made before last night.” 

“Wha- come on, Andy! There was someone else here last night. Trust me.” 

“If you say so.” She straightened up. “So what exactly are we looking for?” 

“I’m not sure, exactly.” Stiles frowned at the footprints. He really couldn’t say exactly why he’d wanted to come back this morning. The feeling of being watched hadn’t left him after he’d gotten home the night before. It was like an itch he couldn’t scratch, a mystery with only two clues and no obvious solution. Stiles didn’t like mysteries that he couldn’t solve. He snapped a few more pictures of the footprints, just to feel like he was doing something, and then stood and looked around for Andy. He saw a flash of blue through the trees to his left and followed. When he walked up, she pointed at more footprints that matched the first set. 

“It looks like whoever this was came from the same direction we did, just off to the side a ways,” she said. 

“Yeah.” Stiles walked next to the prints, comparing them to his own stride. The shoes looked like they could be about the same size that he wore, but it was hard to tell. It was also weird that they were separated out as far as they were, with these two a ways from the others. He was turning back towards Andy to ask what she thought when a glimmer of silver caught his eye. 

“What’s that?” Stiles stepped carefully over the footprints. 

“What’s what?” Andy asked. “I don’t see…” she trailed off as Stiles knelt in the dirt, reaching out and brushing dirt off of something half buried. He gently picked up his find, examining it. It was a silver bracelet, a simple chain with a small charm dangling from it. Stiles squinted, holding it up to his face. 

“It looks like some kind of animal,” he said, hearing Andy come up behind him. “A dog maybe?” 

“It’s a coyote,” Andy said firmly. “See the shape of the head?” Stiles looked at her, surprised. Andy tapped at her com for a moment and brought up a picture on the holo-screen. Stiles looked from the picture to the bracelet in his hand, comparing the two, and decided she was probably right. 

“Do you think whoever was out here last night left this behind?” He asked her. 

“I doubt it,” she said. “It’s a ways away from the footprints and it was partially buried, right? If someone just dropped it last night it wouldn’t be. Someone else was probably on a walk out here a while ago and didn’t notice when it fell off.” 

“Maybe.” Stiles looked back at the bracelet. There was something about it that seemed almost familiar to him. 

“In any case,” Andy said, “I should probably get going soon.” 

“What? Why?” 

“I’m having lunch at Ellie’s house. You could come too.” Stiles narrowed his eyes suspiciously. 

“New Guy’s going to be there isn’t he?” Andy smiled sweetly. 

“Scott. And yes, he is, to make up for missing out on last night.” 

“Great. Have a good time.” Stiles turned back to the bracelet in his hand. Andy sighed pointedly. 

“I already told Ellie you would be there.” 

“Then just un-tell her.” 

“Or,” Andy said, “I could tell her that you have horrible indigestion from eating too much junk food.” When that got no response she added “With lovely, detailed, and highly graphic descriptions.” Stiles looked back at her. Her arms were folded and she looked determined. 

“Why do you even care if I’m avoiding New Guy?” 

“Scott,” she said patiently. “And because you’re being an ass about it.” She turned and started walking away. “Meet you in the car in five minutes!” Stiles stared after her in disbelief. He was about to go back to looking at the bracelet when the mental picture of Andy inventing reasons why he wasn’t there while Ellie and New Guy laughed inserted itself into his mind. He scowled and muttered a few swear words under his breath before standing, shoving the bracelet in his pocket, and running after her. ¬¬¬ 

Stiles had been to Ellie’s house plenty of times over the years. While he and Andy had spent most of their time at one or the other of their houses, they’d also spent time at their mutual friend’s house when her parents were out of town and she was lonely with no one but her babysitter for company. Stiles smirked as he remembered a few memorable occasions when they’d gotten babysitters to quit. Apparently they had never come prepared for the energy of all three children at once. Today the lack of cars in the driveway indicated that Ellie’s parents were gone once again, but unlike when they were young Ellie opened the door with a smile. 

“Come on in! Scott’s here already,” she said, stepping aside to let them come inside. “Are you feeling better Stiles? Andy said you were throwing up last night.” 

“Did she really,” Stiles said. Andy ignored him and walked down the hall to the kitchen. New Guy was at the counter, half standing up from one of the stools there as he watched the doorway. He started to smile when he saw Andy and Stiles. 

“Hey,” he said. 

“Hi Scott!” Any said. Stiles made a noncommittal grunting noise. Andy sighed, but turned to Ellie instead. “Need any help?” 

“The pasta’s almost done. You can help with the salad if you want.” 

“I can-” Stiles started to say. 

“You will sit.” Andy pointed firmly towards the other stool at the counter. 

“I can cook,” Stiles said. “I do it all the time when mom works late. You’ve even eaten things I’ve cooked.” 

“I can cook too,” Andy said. “Sit, Stiles.” 

“If you were sick yesterday you shouldn’t be handling all the food anyway,” Ellie said with a smile that made Stiles suspect she knew he hadn’t been sick at all. He made a face. He hated it when the two of them ganged up on him. Stiles slouched over to the stool, trying to ignore New Guy’s hopeful look. 

“So… you three have been friends for a while?” He asked Stiles. 

“I guess,” he said. 

“Stiles and I have known each other since we were born, practically,” Andy said, grabbing a knife and starting to cut tomatoes. “He’s only about 12 hours older than me. Ellie we didn’t meet until Kindergarten.” 

“Being the only three reading at a second grade level kind of forces you to be friends,” Ellie said. 

“I seem to recall you hating me for getting the same reading score as you,” Stiles pointed out. “Not us becoming instant friends.” 

“I got my revenge in math scores,” Ellie said with a smile. “That helped. Where did you grow up, Scott?” 

“Oh, uhhh…” He suddenly looked nervous. “Here. In California, I mean. My mom raised me.” 

“Just like Stiles then!” Ellie said. 

“Can we not talk about my family history right now?” Stiles snapped. They were all silent for a moment before Scott broke the silence again. 

“So… have you been on the terri-cross team long?” He looked at Stiles as he spoke. Stiles, observing the other boy through his peripheral vision, noted the hopeful puppy eyes were back. He resisted the urge to just get up and leave, knowing Andy wouldn’t forgive him. He didn’t feel like sitting here and getting teased about his lack of terri-cross skills though. 

“You seem to be pretty good at it,” he said waspishly. 

“I-uh.” Scott hesitated again. “I used to play something similar.” 

“The whole school comes out for terri-cross games,” Ellie said, checking the contents of a pot. “There’s usually some casual betting about what kind of terrain it’s going to be.” 

“Odds this time favor a forest I think,” Andy said. “We haven’t had one in a while.” 

“How do you – the trees must make it difficult, right?” Stiles couldn’t resist an eye roll. 

“It’s holographic,” he said. “The trees aren’t solid, they’re meant as a distraction. It’s more important that players pay attention to their footing, since the surface actually does change.” 

“Oh.” Scott smiled at Stiles. “That does make more sense. I guess I still need to learn more about it.” Stiles ignored him and checked his com unit. He wanted to be trying to find out more about the person in the woods, but he didn’t feel like explaining about it to New Guy. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t want to explain to Ellie either. She’d either accuse him of making it up or tell him to go to the police if he was so concerned. He could feel the silver bracelet pressing into his leg, reminding him that he had another mystery to be looking into as well. He was running through possible excuses for leaving in his head when a hand waved in front of his eyes, making him jump. He looked up to see Andy standing in front of him. 

“If you’re done spacing out, would you put the salad on the table?” She asked him. 

“Oh. Right.” Stiles grabbed the bowl she held out to him and carried it into the dining room. Andy followed him with the pasta. A moment later, New Guy came in with the sauce, followed by Ellie with plates and forks. 

“Go ahead and help yourselves,” she said. “I’ll grab some drinks from the kitchen.” No one talked much as they loaded up plates and started eating. Ellie kept one eye on Scott and made a point of including him in whatever conversation did happen. Scott kept looking at Stiles, looking puzzled. Andy participated in the conversations, but kept giving Stiles a look that he had named the “play nice” look years before. Stiles was mostly silent anyway, not having much to say. As people finished eating, the topic turned to bowling. Stiles knew that Ellie enjoyed bowling, mostly because she usually beat everyone else. Scott shrugged when she asked if he enjoyed it. 

“I haven’t been in years,” he admitted. 

“We usually go to Antigravity Alleys here in Beacon Hills,” Ellie explained. “They’re a small place but their antigravity is great. I’ve never had it turn off on me, which it did when I visited a bigger place in San Francisco.” 

“Really?” New Guy looked surprised. 

“We could go this afternoon,” Ellie suggested. “I’m free.” 

“I am too,” Andy said. “Stiles?” 

“I, ah, probably shouldn’t,” he said. “Homework and all that.” 

“Oh please,” Andy said with a laugh. “You haven’t done your homework on a Saturday once in your entire life, Stiles.” 

“Come on, Stiles, if you come we can have teams.” Ellie’s eyes flickered to Scott as she spoke. Stiles felt his mood instantly worsen. He knew that he’d been avoiding hanging out with the three of them for a reason Without fail, whenever Ellie was after a guy she would try to arrange double dates where she would talk to Andy and send flirtatious looks at her crush. It almost always meant that Stiles had to sit next to whatever guy she’d chosen – in this case, New Guy – and try to ignore whatever jabs they aimed at him. 

“I don’t-” he started to say. Scott interrupted him. 

“Come on, Stiles. I think it would be more fun if you came.” Stiles, looking at him, wished he could think of something other than a puppy to compare him to. It was hard to focus on his dislike of the guy with puppies on the brain. 

“Why?” He asked bluntly. “You don’t even know me.” From the look on Scott’s face, Stiles might as well have slapped him. His eyes grew wide and his lips parted slightly as if he wanted to say something, but didn’t know what. Stiles felt that this was an overreaction. He hadn’t said anything that wasn’t true. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ellie putting a hand to her forehead, clearly exasperated. 

“Stiles…” Andy said softly. Looking over at her, Stiles saw that she didn’t look angry like he was half expecting. Instead she just looked sad. 

“Well, he doesn’t,” he told her firmly. “And for your information, I don’t want to go bowling. Just because you girls think something is a great idea doesn’t always mean it is, and I have other things to do.” He pushed his chair back as he stood and walked down the hall. He had grabbed his coat and was out the door before anyone else could say another word. Stiles felt a little bad, knowing that he wasn’t being totally reasonable, but he had no intention of going back and going bowling with them. Maybe an outburst like this would mean that Ellie would finally get a hint and stop trying to invite him along on her dates. He was partway down the sidewalk when curiosity about the situation he’d left behind got the better of him. Stiles may have overreacted, but New Guy hadn’t exactly been acting reasonably either. Come to think of it Andy had been behaving oddly too. If Stiles wanted anything, he wanted to understand things. Going home wouldn’t give him any more information. Looking around to make sure no one was coming after him, he snuck back and ended up sitting under the dining room window, out of sight. Stiles clicked out the earpiece from its special slot in his com and put it in his ear, activating a special program he’d written just for eavesdropping. 

“…still go,” Andy’s voice was saying. “Stiles will get over it.” 

“He could have picked a better way to throw a tantrum,” Ellie said tartly. “Did you see the look on Scott’s face?” 

“I’ll try talking to him again.” 

“He really didn’t tell you what his issue with Scott is?” There was a clattering sound. Stiles guessed they must be clearing up dishes. From the way they were talking, Scott must have left the room. 

“We did talk about it a bit,” Andy said, answering Ellie’s question. “It’s partly that Scott’s such a typically popular kind of guy. I think it’s also that he doesn’t know why Scott wants to be friends with him so badly, so it weirds him out. He won’t come out and just say that though.” Stiles squirmed a little. Sometimes Andy knew him too well. 

“Well, whatever it is, I hope he figures it out soon. Even if Scott’s not interested in being anything more than friends, I like him.” 

“Me too. He’s really sweet.” More clattering followed. “Oh, hey Scott. Ellie, I’ll take this load into the kitchen.” 

“Thanks!” There was a pause. “Are you okay?” Ellie asked then. “I’m sorry if Stiles-” 

“It wasn’t his fault,” New Guy’s voice said. “I probably deserve it, and I have been kind of pushy.” There was a scrape of a chair on the floor. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll get that,” Ellie said. She hesitated before saying “Don’t take this the wrong way Scott, but… why Stiles? I mean, he’s my friend, but he can be kind of…” she trailed off, obviously searching for the right word. 

“Strong minded?” Scott suggested. 

“That,” Ellie agreed. “He’s a good person, but he can be hard to get along with sometimes even if you do know him well. I guess I just wondered…” 

“Why am I going to the effort?” Scott said. There was a bit of silence. Stiles chewed on his lower lip. He wanted to know the answer to that question himself. With practically half the school willing to be friends with Scott, why would he go out of his way to talk to the one person who obviously didn’t want anything to do with him? 

“I… I had a childhood friend,” Scott said at last. “Kind of like what Andy and Stiles have. We were close. He helped me through some really tough times in my life.” 

“What happened?” Ellie asked quietly when Scott didn’t continue. 

“He died.” Scott took a deep breath that even Stiles’ eavesdropper picked up. “It was a long time ago, but… I guess things like that just stick in your mind, you know? I can’t forget him. Stiles reminds me of him, in a lot of ways. I guess that’s why I’m trying so hard.” 

“Hey, can you two bring the rest of the dishes in?” Andy’s voice called from further away. 

“Yeah!” Ellie called back. Chairs scraped and dishes rattled. “Scott, I’m sorry,” Ellie said. “For whatever that’s worth. I could talk to Stiles if you want.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” he responded. “Let him do his own thing. Maybe he’ll change his mind.” 

“Are we talking about the same person still?” Ellie asked, her voice getting further away as they left the room. Stiles stayed where he was, sitting in the dirt. So he just happened to remind Scott of some dead person from his past? That was it? Somehow that felt like an anticlimactic reason for what had been going on. Not that having a friend die wasn’t terrible, it was, but it hardly seemed to account for the intensity that was just under the surface with New Guy. Stiles carefully got to his feet and started back towards home, deep in thought.


	2. 2

The next week at school was filled with people excited about the terri-cross game that Saturday. Stiles was still avoiding his friends for the most part, not wanting to get into a conversation about his behavior at lunch. He knew Ellie was longing to give him a lecture about it from the way she kept looking at him with narrowed eyes, but she was still spending almost all her time with New Guy. Andy, in the afternoons they spent together, didn’t say much about the whole situation. That was a surprise. Normally when Stiles was in a mood because of Ellie and a guy Andy had plenty to say. Instead she seemed to be leaving the subject alone in the hopes that he would calm down on his own. 

News had spread through the school that Scott was going to be playing in Saturday’s game. People were crowding around him in the hall to wish him luck, to ask where he’d learned to play so well, and to generally try to soak up some of the excitement from him. Mark Johnson looked like he was about ready to murder someone. Usually the sycophants crowded around him the week before a game. He also kept shooting Ellie meaningful looks, which she artfully ignored. They’d dated a few times, but it was clear that New Guy had taken that spotlight away from Mark too. 

Scott did manage to corner Stiles one day after lunch. Stiles was impressed despite himself. He’d chosen the outdoor stairs to the basement as a good, unobtrusive spot to eat his lunch where it wasn’t likely that either Andy or Ellie would find him. Well, on second thought he wouldn’t totally count Andy out. She was a bit too good at finding him sometimes. When he turned to head back up the stairs after finishing his sandwich though, New Guy was standing at the top of the steps, looking down at him. 

“That doesn’t look like the most comfortable spot to spend time,” he commented. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Why do you care?” He marched up the steps, shouldering his way past New Guy. 

“Stiles, why are you avoiding me?” Stiles stopped walking at the plaintive voice from behind him and crossed his arms. If nothing else, he had to give this guy credit for being persistent. He just wished that Scott could be persistent about something other than Stiles. 

“Why shouldn’t I be avoiding you?” he wanted to know, turning around. 

“I haven’t exactly done anything to you, have I?” Scott asked. “It’s a reasonable thing to want to know.” Stiles considered his options. He wasn’t going to lose his temper this time. There were too many other people wandering around outside, even if they were at a distance. He tapped a finger against one arm and decided to be direct. 

“Look, I don’t trust you,” Stiles said bluntly. “I have no reason to trust you. New people don’t usually just pop up in Beacon Hills, especially not people like you.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean, people like me?” Scott asked. Was it Stiles’ imagination, or did he look nervous as he asked that? 

“People who are so instantly popular, that’s what,” Stiles said. No, it definitely wasn’t his imagination. Scott visibly relaxed. 

“It’s not like I’m trying to be popular,” he said. “In fact, I’d much rather not be popular. In my experience it’s better to just have a few close friends.” 

“Exactly,” Stiles said. “And I’ve got mine already, thanks all the same.” He turned and walked away. New Guy didn’t say anything this time, and thankfully didn’t try to re-start the conversation later in the day. Stiles did catch him looking at him during later classes, but it seemed like more of a speculative look than anything. It was less creepy than the intense stares he’d gotten from Scott before, so Stiles just ignored it, and the rest of the week passed without incident. 

Game day meant the team gathering together in the locker room for a last lecture from Coach Carrol. Stiles, wearing his red Beacon Hills uniform, made sure to put himself in a corner of the room as far away from both New Guy and Mark Johnson as he could. He probably wasn’t going to end up playing in this game anyway, so he didn’t need to put himself forward into the middle of whatever rivalry was forming between them. He couldn’t help but notice that it mostly seemed to be one sided though. Mark was the one who kept shooting New Guy dirty looks. Scott was ignoring him and looking slightly nervous. 

“All right boys,” Coach said, crossing her arms in front of her and glaring at them. “It’s go time. We’ve practiced as much as we can and now’s the time to put it to the test. Let’s see how you do.” She opened the door and let them out onto the field to the cheers of the other students in the stands. Stiles picked out where Ellie and Andy were sitting easily. Ellie had a sign in her hands that read “Go Scott!” Andy, catching Stiles’ eyes, waved at him. He wrinkled his nose back at her and she laughed. 

As soon as both sides were standing on the field, the referee walked over to the control panel for the holographs and the terrain. He clicked a few buttons and the field shimmered, long shapes growing out of it and small hills appearing. Stiles watched as the holograph solidified into a forest, just like Andy had predicted the week before. New Guy was looking around him in interest as the referee came out on the field with the ball. With the shrilling sound of a whistle, the game began. Stiles watched as the Beacon Hills team got out to an early lead. Mark Johnson wasn’t bothered by the holographic trees at all, easily passing around and through them. New Guy was a different story. While he was doing well, Scott was more likely to pass and run around the fake trees instead of through them. 

The game was hardly much of a competition. Beacon Hills, with both Mark and Scott on the field, was clearly the stronger team. Mark didn’t want to pass the ball to New Guy at first. He would run the ball down the field himself instead of making the obvious play. During a time out, Stiles overheard Coach Carrol giving him a lecture about it and telling him that if he couldn’t share the ball, he couldn’t play. Mark shot Scott a resentful look but didn’t protest any more than that, even though Ellie was in the stands cheering every time Scott made a play. After that Mark started passing and their points soared. Beacon Hills ended up winning by a score of 11-5, with New Guy getting the last goal of the night. The students mobbed the field with cheers, Ellie in the lead. She ran to Scott and smiled up at him. Stiles turned away and walked back to the locker room alone. 

Sunday morning found Stiles feeling restless. He didn’t know what he wanted to do, but he wanted to do something, anything, to get out of this room. He briefly considered going back to the forest again and looking at the area where he’d found the bracelet. Then his brain presented him with the memory of how he’d felt running back to his room that night and the feeling of someone watching him. Stiles winced. Okay, so not the woods. 

Stiles threw on a plaid shirt over the red one he was already wearing and headed downstairs, sneaking past his mom’s room so that he wouldn’t wake her up. She’d been working late again the night before and he didn’t feel like disturbing her. In the kitchen, he grabbed a banana that was sitting on the counter and scribbled a note to tell his mom he was going out in case she woke up and he wasn’t there. Then he headed out the front door. 

Walking down the sidewalk was relaxing. It was clear out, which probably meant it was going to be another warm day, but the early morning air was a bit chilly. It was the first sign that things were going to get colder within the next several weeks. Now that he was looking for it, Stiles could also see that some of the leaves on the trees had tinges of orange, yellow or red. Fall was definitely going to be here with a vengeance in not too long. 

Turning left, Stiles realized his feet were taking him towards the school. He considered changing course and then shrugged to himself. He didn’t actually have a plan this morning past getting out of the house. It’s not like there was any harm in going past the school, he told himself. In fact, it might be interesting to look at it with all of the information he’d found out about it in the past week. Stiles examined the building as he got closer to it. The outside looked almost the same as in the pictures he’d found of it online. The brick exterior had been replaced several times, but it was the same basic coloring. The windows had also been replaced as energy efficiency had become more important over the years. Stiles was looking at one of the windows, trying to guess when they’d last been replaced, when he saw a flash of movement. He frowned. Who else would be at the school this early? 

Stiles walked around to the terri-cross field, keeping one eye on the building. There weren’t any cars in the parking lot out front or parked back here. That meant that whoever had come here had either walked, like him, or had been dropped off. He started feeling a little uneasy. A feeling very close to the one he’d had in the woods, of being watched, was started to creep over him. Stiles looked at the school building and tried to reason with himself. Maybe he’d imagined the movement. Or it could have been the reflection of a bird flying past or something. 

The door into the locker room was hanging open off of one hinge. 

Stiles carefully walked forward, putting his hand into his pocket and getting his com. If there was someone in here, he should probably call the police. That’s what Andy would tell him at least. The door creaked a little as he approached it, moving in the breeze. Stiles ran a finger across the metal of the door. There was a gouge in it that he was pretty sure hadn’t been there before. His grip on his com tightened. He peered in through the doorway. The locker room was dark, with no sign of anyone there. Stiles took a deep breath and carefully walked inside. 

In the locker room itself, everything seemed to be in place. It was hard to tell with the lights off, but there was a bit of light streaming in through the doorway where the door had been yanked open. Stiles walked past the rows of lockers, looking for anything unusual. When he got to the last line, he found it. The locker that had been assigned to New Guy had the door forced open, just like the door into the locker room itself. Everything in there had been scattered around the floor. There were rips in the pads that were meant to be worn on the shoulders and a dent in the helmet, which was lying several feet away from the locker. 

“Wow,” Stiles muttered. “Apparently I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the guy.” He moved forward and touched the door, which was hanging open. It had been dented from the inside. The metal was warped so badly that there was no way that it would be able to shut properly. Stiles found himself imagining what kind of tool a person would have to have with them in order to damage both the outside door and this door as thoroughly as they had. He was pretty sure he didn’t want to find out in person. 

Backing up, Stiles turned and quickly headed back to the outside door. He was out it and headed back towards the street, thinking that he’d call the police or at least get away from here and the person who’d seemingly broken in just to mutilate New Guy’s locker, when he realized there was someone standing on the terri-cross field and jumped back with a yelp. It was a girl he’d never seen before. She looked a little older than him and had an odd smile on her face. Her hair was black and chopped off at her shoulders. When he looked at her face, there was a brief moment when her eyes appeared to glow blue. 

“Uh. Hi,” Stiles said. “You probably don’t wanna be here, I think someone broke into the locker room, and they probably have some kind of a weapon…” He stopped talking, the thought suddenly occurring to him that maybe this girl had been the one to break in. He glanced at her hands and was relieved to see that they were empty. The girl tilted her head as if sizing him up and Stiles took an involuntary step backwards. Something about this girl was making him feel like prey. 

“Look,” he said. “I don’t know who you are, exactly, but I’m serious. You should probably leave.” 

“Perhaps I will,” she said. Her voice was deeper than Stiles would have expected. “You don’t seem to be related to the person I’m looking for.” 

“Uh. Unless you’re looking for my mom, I’m not really related to anyone in town,” Stiles said. “So yeah. You’re probably right about that.” The girl smiled even wider. 

“Then yes, I think I will leave for now.” She turned and walked away across the field. Stiles stared after her in confusion as she vanished into the trees that grew there. 

Andy wasn’t entirely thrilled when Stiles showed up at her house at nine in the morning. She slouched downstairs in an overly large T-shirt and yoga pants and made coffee while he sat at the table and waited, tapping his fingers impatiently against his leg. After Andy had drunk a mug and a half of coffee she was more awake. She looked at Stiles with ‘this better be good’ written all over her face. That was all the invitation Stiles needed to launch into an explanation of what had happened at the school. He hesitated at the point where he left the locker room, not sure whether or not to describe the weird girl who’d been on the field. Andy apparently took this to mean that he was done talking. 

“So let me get this straight,” she said. “Not only did you manage to get stalked through the woods on Friday, but today you wandered into the middle of someone breaking into the school?” She shook her head. “Stiles, your skills at running into trouble while going for a walk are unbelievable.” 

“I don’t do it on purpose,” he protested. 

“I know you don’t.” She sighed and put her empty coffee mug on the table. “I don’t suppose you did the sensible thing and called the police?” 

“Uh,” Stiles said awkwardly. Andy rolled her eyes. 

“Right. Let me get dressed.” She stood and walked towards the stairs. 

“Why do you need to get dressed?” Stiles called after her. 

“If I’ve learned anything in the past fourteen years of being your friend, it’s that you’re going to drag me back to the school with you, and I’m not going to be wearing my pajamas while you do,” she called back. “Don’t move.” Stiles sat at the table, tapping his fingers impatiently. Ten minutes later, Andy came down wearing jeans, boots, and a teal sweater. 

“Okay, let’s do this.” Andy walked to the door, grabbing a large brown purse and slinging it over her shoulder. Stiles stood up and followed her out to her car, climbing in wordlessly. They were silent all the way to the school, where they had to stop a few blocks away because of all the police cars. 

“I guess someone else called it in,” Andy said. 

“Must have.” Stiles got out of the car and walked up to where there was caution tape stretched by the field. He looked across at the door, which was still hanging off of its hinges. He looked up to where the security camera was on that side of the field and stared. When Andy walked up beside him, he pointed. The camera had been crushed into a tiny metal ball. 

“Someone didn’t want themselves seen.” Andy’s face was pale as she looked at the scene. She looked scared as she looked at the crushed camera and then at the door with the deep gouge in it. Stiles looked around, trying to see if he could spot anything else that he might have missed when he was there that morning. He froze when he saw another figure behind the caution tape on the other side of the field. Scott McCall was standing there, also staring at the door. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his side and he looked angry. Stiles realized that he hadn’t seen him look angry before. Somehow it sent a chill down his spine. 

“Come on,” he said to Andy. “If the police are here, there’s not much else we can do.” 

“Yeah,” she said softly. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She turned away from the scene and then paused as the com around her wrist pinged. “Hang on, it’s Ellie.” She pulled up the holo-screen. “Hello?” Stiles looked over her shoulder with a frown. The screen was showing an image of Ellie’s ceiling. There were some muffled noises in the background, but no sign of Ellie herself. The noises got louder for a moment, and then the screen crackled and vanished with a small popping sound. Andy and Stiles looked at each other. She was very clearly startled. Stiles was running through a list of possible reasons a com call would have short circuited like that. 

“Maybe it was an accidental call?” He said uncertainly. “Or maybe her com got wet and is on the fritz or something?” 

“Maybe.” Andy tapped some buttons, trying to call their friend back. The small screen that indicated the call was trying to go through came up, and then displayed that the call had failed. Andy bit her lip, looking troubled. 

“If her com was broken, the call wouldn’t try to go through at all,” she said. “I hope everything’s okay.” Stiles glanced back. New Guy was still on the other side of the field, but his eyes were now on the two of them. He shook his head. It’s not like he could hear them from that distance anyways. 

“We can stop and check on her if you want,” he said. “We do that a lot when her parents are out of town anyways.” He started walking purposefully towards the car. Andy followed him at a trot. They got into the car and quickly pulled away, heading towards Ellie’s house. Stiles glanced back at the field one more time. New Guy was gone. He turned back to the front, trying to put the situation at the school out of his mind for now. 

When Andy pulled up outside of Ellie’s house, the first thing Stiles noticed was that it was very quiet. He glanced at the clock and realized that it was still not quite ten on a Sunday morning. No wonder people weren’t around much yet. He got out of the car and looked up at Ellie’s house. It looked the same as it had the day before when they’d come for lunch. Blue exterior, white curtains drawn at the windows… He froze as his eyes landed on the window he knew led to Ellie’s room on the second floor. It was shattered. 

“Andy.” He grabbed her arm as she got out of the driver’s side and pointed. Her eyes followed his finger and she muttered a swear word before wrenching her arm away and running up the driveway. Stiles followed her. Andy quickly scanned her com at the door before throwing it open and hurtling towards the stairs. 

“Ellie?” She called. “Ellie!” Stiles was so close behind her that he almost ran into her when she stopped suddenly in the doorway of Ellie’s room. He flailed his arms to keep his balance and then looked over her shoulder and froze himself. 

The glass from Ellie’s window must have fallen outside rather than inside, but the curtains on her window were fluttering in the breeze coming through the jagged hole. Her com lay in several pieces on the floor by her desk. It was easy to find because of its bright red coloring. The rest of the room was a mess. The bedsheets were on the floor in a tangle, some of them ripped. There were books knocked off the bookshelf, a picture frame lying on its face by the desk in its own personal area of glass shards. Andy and Stiles walked slowly into the room, looking around. The carpet was ripped up from the floor in several places as if long claws had dragged it up from the floor. Pages were ripped out of the notebooks that lay half out of her bag, which also sported a large tear. Stiles felt as if he had swallowed a glass of ice cold water as he looked at the aftermath of whatever had happened. 

“Oh no,” Andy whispered. “Oh, Ellie!” She crouched down to pick up the picture frame. Stiles recognized it. It was a picture of the three of them on their first day of high school, laughing together in the autumn sunlight. Andy’s mom had taken it as she dropped them off in front of the brick Beacon Hills High School sign. Stiles slowly and carefully made his way to the window, still not quite believing what he was seeing around him. He looked out the broken glass at the street below and for a moment disbelieved his own eyes. 

Scott McCall was standing on the sidewalk, looking up at him. 

For a moment, Stiles didn’t move at all. He was trying to convince himself that it was impossible for him to be seeing New Guy, that it didn’t make sense for him to be here when they had left the school in a car, and there hadn’t been any sign of another car for him to get into. That was before the rational part of his brain turned off in favor of blind, intense anger. Stiles barely heard Andy ask him what on earth he thought he was doing before he was out the door of Ellie’s room, down the stairs, out the front door, and in front of Scott, his voice already raised into a full-fledged yell. 

“I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, or why you seem to think that the normal rules of the world don’t apply to you, but if you think you can just creepily follow us around when Ellie’s missing and we have way more important things to worry about, then you can just take your sorry ass and turn around and just-” 

“Whoa, wait.” Scott held up his hands, his eyes wide with surprise. “What happened with Ellie exactly? I know she’s missing-” 

“You know?” Stiles shouted in disbelief. “You know? What, did you kidnap her yourself or something? I knew there was something off about you! You met her what, a week ago? Why are you so freaking obsessed with us and with things that are none of your goddamned-” His voice cut off into muffled exclamations as Andy caught up with him and put her hand firmly over his mouth to stop his outburst. 

“In case you’ve forgotten,” she told him, “it’s Sunday morning and people are sleeping. Unless you want all of them over here asking what the heck is going on, I suggest you calm down.” Stiles took a couple of deep, angry breaths through his nose. After a moment, when he’d stopped trying to yell through her hand, Andy took it away. He continued glaring at New Guy. 

“Thank you,” Andy said. “Now, can we go inside instead of standing out here?” 

“I don’t want him in there,” Stiles said sulkily. 

“Then you can stay out here,” Andy retorted. She turned and walked back into the house. Stiles’ anger tried to resurface, but he throttled it down and followed her, with New Guy only a few steps behind him. Andy shut the door after they came in and led the way into the living room. She and Stiles sat on the couch while Scott perched, looking nervous, on the edge of a chair. 

“Right,” Andy said. “I don’t know what happened here, but whatever it was it doesn’t look good and Ellie’s definitely not here.” 

“I want to know how he knew anything was going on with Ellie in the first place,” Stiles insisted. He and Andy both looked at Scott. 

“I’m kind of wondering that myself,” Andy admitted. “We only just found out when we got here, and before that the only clue we had was when she tried to call me at the school.” 

“Um.” Scott shifted a little in his chair. “I overheard you two talking at the terri-cross field.” 

“There is no way you overheard us!” Stiles burst out. “You were standing all the way on the other side of the field!” 

“Wait, he was there? You were there?” Andy looked from Stiles to Scott and then back. “You didn’t say anything.” 

“I didn’t think it was important until he showed up here. Which, by the way, makes no sense, because he didn’t have a car and we did.” There was a moment of heavy silence as both Stiles and Andy looked back at Scott. She looked slightly confused. Stiles had his arms firmly crossed over his chest. Scott just looked uncomfortable. When the silence was growing almost too much to bear, he took a deep breath. 

“I didn’t just come here because of what I heard you two saying,” he said. “I was following the trail of the people who broke into the school, and it happened to coincide with what you were doing.” 

“Trail?” Stiles echoed, startled. “I didn’t see any kind of a trail.” 

“It’s not something you’d be able to see.” Scott took a deep breath and then let it out again, his eyes unhappy. “This isn’t really a conversation I was planning on having today.” 

“Tough luck,” Stiles said unsympathetically. 

“Stiles,” Andy said wearily. “Look Scott, if you have some way of following these people that might help the police find Ellie, we need to know about it. She’s our friend, we can’t just let her get kidnapped and not do anything about it.” Scott looked at Stiles. He seemed to be looking for something. Finally he closed his eyes and, when he spoke, it was a soft mutter. 

“I’m a werewolf.” No one said anything. Stiles could feel the seconds ticking past as he tried to take what had already happened today and match it with the words he was pretty sure that he’d just heard. They didn’t fit together well. 

“You’re a what?” He said eventually. 

“A werewolf,” Scott repeated, sounding tired. “That’s why I was able to follow the people who broke into the school, and why I knew they’d taken Ellie. They’re werewolves too. There must be a rival pack in town. Normally I would have noticed them sooner and taken care of it, but I’ve been…” He looked at Stiles again, and for just a moment his brown eyes seemed to flash bright red. “Preoccupied,” he finished. Stiles stared at him, feeling his anger starting to come back in full force. Ellie was missing, more than likely kidnapped, and this guy was sitting here trying to make some kind of lame joke about werewolves of all things? He looked over at Andy, expecting her to be upset too, and his heart sunk. She was sitting up straighter and had a determined gleam that he recognized all too well on her face. He’d somehow managed to forget her obsession with the supernatural. 

“How do you know that they’re other werewolves?” She asked. 

“Scent,” Scott said. “Every person has a distinct scent, but you can always tell when it’s a werewolf. There’s a kind of spiciness to their scent that regular people don’t have.” 

“So you could follow it to find Ellie?” Andy persisted. 

“This is ridiculous,” Stiles shouted, standing up from the couch. “This is not the time for you to be making up weird crap or for you to bring your crazy obsession with supernatural things into it! We need to-” He stopped, starting at Scott. His eyes were red again, but this time it wasn’t a flash. They glowed with a steady light, apparently lit from within. A glance down showed that his fingernails were lengthening into something resembling claws. Stiles’ eyes flickered back to Scott’s face to watch as fangs emerged from between his lips and his face seemed to rearrange itself, fur growing where it had no right to be. Stiles found himself trying to take a step backwards. He stumbled, forgetting the couch was still behind him, and fell over. He sprawled next to Andy, feeling his eyes widen until he thought they might fall out and his mouth hanging open. 

“I’m not making things up,” Scott said. His voice was different too, lower and with a growl under it that hadn’t been there before. 

“Uh,” Stiles said intelligently. Andy was staring too, but she was smiling as she did. 

“You’re actually a werewolf,” she said. Scott closed his eyes and seemed to focus. The fangs, claws, and fur all slowly receded. When he opened his eyes again they were back to a warm brown. Stiles forced himself to close his mouth and scramble into something that more closely resembled a normal sitting position. 

“I’m actually a werewolf,” Scott confirmed, smiling a crooked little smile at Stiles. “So are the people who took Ellie. It’s not the first time another pack has tried to come into Beacon Hills, though it hasn’t happened in quite a while.” 

“Wha- Ba- Ungh.” Stiles closed his mouth and silently ordered his tongue to behave before trying again. “So you’re what, just going to run off and rescue Ellie all on your own with your…” He waved a hand. “Werewolfiness?” Andy shook her head. 

“I don’t think so,” she said. “No offense, Scott, but I don’t exactly like the odds of sending one of you against an unknown number of them.” Stiles frowned, thinking. 

“Wait a minute,” he said. “Okay, so let’s just… just kind of accept the werewolf thing for the moment.” He shook his head a little. “Fine, I can handle that for now. I think. Do… do all werewolves have the eye thing?” He pointed at one of his own hazel eyes. Scott nodded. “All the same color?” Stiles asked. “I mean, are they all red like yours? Because I saw this person this morning, and I thought her eyes flashed this weird electric blue color, but then I thought I’d probably imagined it…” 

“You never said anything about that,” Andy said accusingly. 

“She was at the school.” Stiles waved a hand impatiently. “I didn’t get a chance to bring it up, okay? She was out on the field, and she said something about being related to the person she was looking for, and then she wandered off into the trees for some reason.” 

“Her eyes flashed blue?” Scott asked, leaning forward with his hands clasped in front of him and looking serious. “Not yellow or red?” 

“It was definitely blue,” Stiles said. “Why? Does it mean something?” 

“Different colors mean different types of werewolf, yeah.” Scott narrowed his eyes a little. “I’ll need to find out how many there are, it’s not likely to be just her.” Stiles considered this. 

“Ellie’s com was smashed, but I could probably fix it,” he offered. “There might be something on it that at least lets us know how many people were here in the house.” 

“She tried to call me so it’s definitely possible that she got some video of them,” Andy agreed. “And enough with the ‘I’, Scott. We obviously can’t get the police involved in this if there’s…” She hesitated a moment before saying “supernatural stuff involved, but we’re helping you get Ellie back.” Stiles stood up as Scott started to protest and went back upstairs to Ellie’s room. Stepping over ripped pieces of paper and bits of bedsheet, he gathered up the pieced of Ellie’s com. Putting them on the desk, he grabbed his own com and ran a quick scan of the three pieces, calculating what repairs it would need. By the time he made it back to the living room Andy looked smug and Scott concerned. It wasn’t difficult to tell who had won the argument. 

“I can definitely fix this, but I’ll need some tools from my place,” he said. “Unless Ellie’s dad is hiding a giant toolbox somewhere.” 

“I doubt it.” Andy stood up, straightening her sweater and then looking at the boys. “Let’s go. We can take my car.” Scott’s eyes flickered to Stiles. 

“Me too?” He asked, sounding uncertain. 

“Much as I hate to say it, we need you if we’re going to save Ellie,” Stiles said. “So yes, you too. I still don’t trust you though so don’t let it go to your head. 

“Right,” Scott replied, a smile creeping onto his face. Stiles turned his back on him and headed towards the door. Outside they climbed into Andy’s car and she started driving towards Stiles’ house. 

“So what do the different colors mean?” Stiles asked after a moment. “Of werewolf eyes, I mean.” He glanced at what he could see of Scott sitting in the back reflected in the rearview mirror. 

“Yellow is for beta werewolves,” Scott said. “So right after you get bitten, they’re yellow. If you kill someone that’s an innocent, then your eyes turn blue.” Stiles shuddered. 

“Kill someone?” He said, his voice a little squeakier than he’d intended. 

“It has to be someone innocent,” Scott said. “But yes.” Stiles remembered the blue flash of the girl’s eyes that morning and suddenly felt very lucky to have walked away from the terri-cross field. 

“Yours are red,” Andy pointed out. “Not blue or yellow.” 

“Red is for Alphas,” Scott said. “They’re kind of like head werewolves, I guess.” 

“So you’re not just a werewolf, you’re a werewolf leader?” Stiles asked. 

“Sort of.” Scott looked uncomfortable. “I don’t exactly have a pack right now, so I’m not really leading anyone.” 

“Why don’t you-” 

“We’re here,” Andy interrupted, parking the car outside Stiles’ house. “I don’t see your mom’s car, Stiles.” 

“She must have gotten called in to work again,” Stiles said, silently grateful that he wouldn’t have to explain what they were up to. He got out of the car, distracted from talk of werewolf packs, and opened the door for Andy and Scott. He lead the way up to his room, where he shoved aside some of the clutter on his desk to make a blank space for the pieces of Ellie’s com. He then turned to a toolbox by his door and started digging through it. Andy sat on the bed while Scott looked around with apparent interest at the room. 

Stiles’ room was always a bit disorganized. He usually found things he’d much rather do when it was time to clean things. Half of his blue plaid comforter was trying to escape onto the floor from the partially made bed. The closet was open, revealing clothes stashed without any real order. His favorite clothe were in a pile on a chair near the door while his dirty laundry was haphazardly heaped in a basket closer to the closet. Flat surfaces in the room had tools, bits of coms in various states of disrepair, and random wires and parts mixed up with various school supplies. Stiles finally put his hands on the wrench he was looking for and headed back to his desk, starting to adjust one of the com parts. 

“You seem to know a lot about coms,” Scott said, gingerly sitting on the bed next to Andy. Stiles shrugged. 

“I dabble. They’re nice because there’s always something new to learn about them. Andy, hand me those pinchers?” She reached over and picked the tool up out of the clutter on his bedside table, handing it over with a wrinkled nose. 

“Stiles, you really need to organize things in here.” 

“Tell me that sometime when there’s not a crisis happening, would you?” Stiles said, connecting wires from one part of com to another part with a click of the pinchers. He felt around with one hand and grabbed another tool from his desk. Andy and Scott chatted a little behind him as he worked, but it was clear that all of their minds were on Ellie. Half an hour later, Stiles held up the com. It was in one piece again. There were dents and dings all over it and the red coating was, at best, retaining its hold on fifty percent of the outside. If it worked, Stiles didn’t care what it looked like. He tapped some buttons. With a fizzing sound, it slowly flickered to life. 

“All right!” Stiles punched the air in victory. Scott and Andy both came to stand behind him. 

“Did it get anything?” Andy asked. 

“We’re about to find out,” Stiles said. He tapped a few buttons to enter video storage and pulled up the latest file. When he clicked the play button, he knew they’d hit jackpot. The camera jerked around to show Ellie frantically tapping at the com, her face scared. She screamed and the com fell to the floor. It was a weird angle, but when Stiles paused the video all three of them could clearly see three people in the room besides Ellie. 

“That’s the one I saw this morning,” Stiles said, pointing the girl out. Her eyes were glowing blue and she had a feral grin on her face. Scott leaned forward. 

“It looked like all three of them are probably betas,” he said, pointing to the eyes of the only boy. They were the same shade of blue as the black haired girl’s. The other girl, who had spiky purple hair, had yellow eyes. 

“At least three then,” Andy said. “Is there anything else?” Stiles started the video again. It was only a few seconds more before Ellie’s hand reached out and grabbed the com again and the video ended. 

“That must have been when she tried to call you,” Stiles said, leaning back in his chair and feeling slightly sick. He closed the video and looked at the beat up com, wondering what their next move was. 

“What’s this?” Scott said suddenly. Stiles looked up to see Scott looking at something on his desk, an odd look on his face. Following his glance, he saw the silver bracelet from the woods sitting there. 

“It’s just a bracelet I found,” he said. “Why, what’s wrong with it?” Scott reached out and touched it with one finger. 

“It looks like…” he shook his head. “Never mind, not important.” Stiles frowned, about to demand an explanation, but was stopped when Andy spoke up. 

“So what are we going to do now?” She asked. “Ellie’s parents are going to be back late tonight, and if they come home and find that window broken and Ellie gone, they’re definitely going to get the police involved.” Stiles turned his mind back to the problem at hand. 

“I wish she had this with her,” he said, hoisting the com. “If she did I could track it and figure out where they’d taken her.” He tapped the com lightly against the edge of his desk as he thought. “You said you knew where the werewolves had gone by their scent, right? That’s how you knew they’d gone to Ellie’s house?” 

“Yeah,” Scott said. “It was a pretty clear trail.” 

“And you said that every person has a distinct scent,” Stiles continued, thinking out loud. “So you should be able to follow the trail from Ellie’s house to wherever they’ve taken her, right?” He looked back at Scott, who nodded. 

“I still don’t know how many are in the pack that took her,” he said. “There’s definitely three betas there, but if they have an alpha too then we might be in trouble.” 

“So we need more of a plan than just that.” Stiles stood up and started pacing around the room. “What if they hadn’t taken Ellie?” He asked suddenly, stopping by the bed. “How would you deal with them then?” Scott looked surprised. 

“Uh. I’d track them to wherever they were staying and get them out of Beacon Hills. Alphas have ways of establishing dominance over betas, so if it was just betas I’d chase them out. If there was an alpha I might have to fight them to get the pack out.” 

“So what if we got Ellie out of there without confronting this other pack?” Stiles asked. “Then you could just go in, and do whatever else you’d normally do, and then problem solved, right?” 

“That sounds great, Stiles, but how exactly are you planning on getting Ellie out of there without being noticed?” Andy asked, crossing her arms. “If Scott can smell them, then they can smell us, and I doubt they’re just going to hand her over nicely.” 

“We need a distraction,” Stiles muttered. “We need…” He clapped his hands together as a plan fell into his mind. “Andy, do you still have those knives that your aunt sent you?” She looked surprised. 

“Yeah. They’re in my room.” 

“You know how to use them, right?” She nodded. “Perfect. So here’s the plan. We stop by your house, grab the knives, and then park by Ellie’s house so that we can follow their trail. Wolfy boy here tracks them, and once we figure out where they’re keeping her Andy will find a way to get in. I’ll make some kind of loud noise to distract them and hopefully get everyone away from Ellie so that you can sneak in and get Ellie out. You’ll have the knives in case you need them. Once you two are clear, you’ll send some kind of signal and that’s when Mr. Alpha can move in and do his thing.” 

“What if they catch you?” Andy wanted to know. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“I’m not just going to stand there and let them come after me,” he said. “I’ll climb a tree or something.” 

“That’s probably not-” Scott started to say. Stiles interrupted him. 

“If you have a better idea, let me know,” he snapped. “Either you’re a big wolf man who can take care of things once Ellie’s out of there or you’re not. Which is it?” Scott was looking at him with big worried eyes. Stiles waited to see if he was going to say anything else before nodding. “Right. Let’s head to Andy’s house and get those knives.” 

An hour later, following Scott and Andy through the woods, Stiles reflected on how absolutely stupid his plan actually was. Sure, Andy now had two knives strapped to her belt. There was also an alpha werewolf leading the way to wherever Ellie was, and that’s around when Stiles’ thought process fell apart, because apparently not only were werewolves a thing but he was now going to try and distract a group of them to save one of his friends. He was also going to have to put at least a little bit of trust in a guy who he had only met a week ago who was not only also a werewolf, but was a big enough werewolf that he’d chased out whole other packs of werewolves before. There was something off about that too, but Stiles was going to think about that when he wasn’t busy contemplating his own possible kidnapping or mutilation at the hands of people with glowing blue eyes. 

“Wait.” Scott put out an arm to stop the other two teens. Andy and Stiles peered over his shoulders. The trees stopped a few feet ahead of them. Stiles could see through them to a clearing that stopped at the foot of a small cliff. In the wall of the cliff was an opening to a cave. 

“In there?” he whispered. Scott nodded. 

“I can hear four heartbeats in there, and one of them is definitely human. That’s probably Ellie.” He looked at Stiles. “Don’t do anything yet. I’m going to take Andy around to the other side of the clearing and make sure there’s no more of them around.” Stiles felt indignant at being ordered around, but ended up not saying anything as the other two walked away. It actually did make sense for him to stay here for now. He just didn’t like not being the one in charge of the plan. He reached out and put a hand on one of the trees nearby, eyes still on the cave. He was trying to squint into the dark opening to see if he could see anything inside when he felt someone watching him. He slowly turned his head, hoping that it was just Scott doing his creepy staring thing again, to see the black haired girl from that morning standing behind him. Her eyes were glowing a steady blue and she was smiling at him in that same predatory way. Shit. 

“I guess I was wrong about you,” she said. “You didn’t smell like the local alpha or I would have taken you out this morning. My mistake.” She took a few steps forward. Stiles backed up until his back pressed against the bark of a tree, trying not to panic but feeling his heart pounding so hard and fast that he was pretty sure it was going to come out of his chest and go flying off into the forest. The words killed an innocent were echoing around in his head. 

“M…mistake?” He got out, his voice shaky. “I don’t think it was a mistake.” She laughed. 

“Maybe not. This is so much more delightful, with you shaking in fear like that.” She reached out a hand to touch Stiles’ cheek. He flinched. “With both you and the girl in there, we’ll have plenty of fun for everyone,” the girl said. The mention of Ellie froze Stiles’ panic. He was not going to let them have any kind of “fun” with either of them if he could help it. One of his hands went down to his pocket and gripped his com. 

“Thanks,” he said, surprised at how casual sounding his voice was, “But I think I’ll pass.” He whipped his com out, hitting the button that turned the light on and shining it straight into her eyes. The werewolf screamed and put her hands over her eyes to shield them. As soon as she took a step back, Stiles whipped around the tree and started running. He didn’t think about direction and realized too late that he was going to be passing straight by the opening to the cave. The boy that had been in the video on Ellie’s com came out and shouted something at him. Another girl, this one with dark skin and glowing blue eyes who hadn’t been in the video, came out to stand behind them. Both of them started towards Stiles, who had momentarily frozen. He looked around and headed a slightly different direction, back towards a different part of the trees than where he had come from. 

Stiles could hear the sound of footsteps behind him. He was sure that it wouldn’t take the black haired girl long to get her bearings and come after him with the other two. The worst part was that he remembered how fast Scott had gotten from the school to Ellie’s house. These werewolves may not be alphas, but he was sure that they would easily be able to run faster than him and catch him. The fact that they hadn’t meant that they were playing with him like a cat with a mouse. He started breathing more heavily as branches smacked into his arms and turned, trying to think what he should do. This wasn’t the distraction he’d had in mind, but hopefully Andy had gone into the cave to get Ellie. As he thought this, Stiles tripped over a rock and went rolling down a short hill. He could feel himself getting bruises all over his body as he hit rocks, branches, and bumps. With a thump, Stiles landed on his back at the bottom of the hill and watched with horror as the three werewolves came out of the trees, all of their eyes glowing blue above their white smiles. 

“I was right,” the black haired girl said as she led the others towards him. “You are going to be fun, aren’t you?” 

“Fun probably isn’t the word you’re looking for,” Stiles said. v“Oh, I think it is.” She held up a hand, her nails lengthening into claws as she took another step towards Stiles. He tried to scoot backwards, but there was a large rock behind him. The girl laughed and raised a hand. That’s when Stiles heard a loud growl and Scott burst through the trees, landing in front of him in a protective crouch. While the girl threatening him had claws on one hand and glowing eyes, Scott was fully wolfed out, from the claws on his hands to the fangs in his mouth. He glared at the girl, who took a step back from him, looking scared. 

“Get out of here,” Scott growled at them. The girl tossed her hair back and tried to look brave. 

“You can’t tell us what to do. This is our hunting ground now.” Scott’s lips bared his teeth in a grin. Then he opened his mouth and roared. Stiles clapped his hands over his ears. The sound was louder than anything he’d ever heard before. It seemed to shake his bones, touching something primal inside of him and bringing it to life. He couldn’t have said how long it lasted. It seemed like ages before the sound stopped. Opening his eyes, Stiles realized he’d had them squeezed shut. The three werewolves who had chased him were crouched down, hands over their own ears and looking terrified. Scott straightened. 

“Beacon Hills is under my protection,” he said, his voice still a low growl. “You have one hour to get out of here.” The three didn’t argue. They turned and ran off through the forest. Scott stood watching them for a moment, breathing hard, before turning to Stiles. Stiles couldn’t help shrinking back a little. Scott looked startled and then closed his eyes, shifting back to looking human again before he crouched down in front of the other boy. 

“Are you all right?” he asked. “I thought you were going to stay put.” 

“That was the plan,” Stiles said with a weak laugh, feeling light headed. “I think crazy werewolf lady had other ideas though.” He tried to sit up and winced, putting a hand to his side. Scott reached out and touched his hand with two of his fingers. Stiles watched in fascination as black lines seemed to shoot up Scott’s arm. The pain in his side stopped. He gingerly stood up. 

“Thanks,” he said awkwardly. Scott, also standing, smiled at him. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but they both turned their heads at the sound of Andy’s voice calling their names. 

“Over here,” Stiles shouted. There were some crashing sounds a ways off and then Andy appeared through the trees, supporting Ellie. She looked relieved to see Scott and Stiles. Stiles hurried forward to help Ellie walk over to the rock he’d been pressed up against before and sit down. She was wearing light purple pajamas, ripped in several places, and her face was pale; Stiles could see what looked like a splash of blood on one arm and places where she was scraped and bruised. She smiled at him as he helped her sit down. 

“Thanks,” she whispered before starting to cough. Andy reached into the bag she had with her and brought out a bottle of water, which she handed to the other girl. Ellie took a few long drinks from it and then sighed. She looked up and frowned. Stiles suddenly saw the three of them through her eyes. There was Andy, who had one of her knives in her hand with what looked suspiciously like blood on it. There was Scott, who had dirt all over himself and a scratch on one cheek. Stiles didn’t even want to think about what he looked like after running away from werewolves and falling down a hill. 

“Will someone please tell me what the heck is going on?” Ellie asked plaintively. 

They headed back to Ellie’s house, explaining as best they could on the way. She listened wide-eyed as each of them took turns, Stiles describing what had happened at the school, Andy what they had found when they went to look for Ellie, Scott carefully touching on the subject of werewolves. When they got to her house, Ellie let them in with her battered com, giving it a rueful glance. Stiles started to stammer out an apology, but Ellie just raised her eyebrows at him. 

“I may not totally understand what’s happening, but I am pretty clear on the fact that the three of you probably just saved my life,” she told him. “So don’t bother.” He grinned sheepishly and followed her into the house. Ellie went upstairs to take a shower and put some clothes on. Andy followed her to make sure her friend was all right. Scott and Stiles went back into the living room, where Stiles collapsed into a chair and the werewolf fell onto the couch. They didn’t say anything to each other, both of them content to just sit and let the tension ease out of their bodies. Andy came in after a while. 

“Ellie’s done in the shower,” she said. “I’m going to help her clean up her room a bit, but we’re going to tell her parents that someone must have broken in while she was spending the day with me today, so we don’t have to get all of it taken care of.” 

“Makes sense,” Scott said with a yawn. Stiles just nodded his agreement. Andy looked at him in concern. 

“Are you sure you’re okay, Stiles?” He nodded again. 

“I’m just tired,” he said. “I’ll get home and fall over for a while and be fine in the morning.” Andy shook her head. 

“If you say so,” she said. “Anyway, I was going to tell you that you two can head home now if you want. I’ll finish taking care of things here. If nothing else Stiles, you definitely need a shower.” 

“Thanks,” he said sarcastically, knowing she was right. Andy just punched him lightly in the shoulder and then turned to go back upstairs. Stiles heaved himself out of his chair with a groan. Scott stood up too, watching him. 

“Are you going to be able to get home?” He asked. “I could walk you there.” Stiles raised his eyebrows at the other boy. 

“I don’t need a nanny,” he said. “I’ll be fine.” Scott hesitated, still looking unsure. Stiles sighed. “Look,” he said. “We couldn’t have saved Ellie without you, and you also saved my butt today. So I do have to say thanks for that. As for the rest of it, the werewolf bit and whatever else… I don’t know how I feel about it yet.” 

“Do you still hate me then?” Scott asked. 

“I never said…” Stiles began before looking at Scott. The alpha was smiling that crooked smile again. 

“You haven’t exactly been subtle about it.” Stiles rubbed his forehead. He ached all over and was so tired that he was pretty sure he could sleep for an entire week. This was not the conversation he would have chosen to have under the circumstances. 

“Put it this way,” he said. “I want to still hate you, but I don’t, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.” He looked up at Scott, daring him to say something about it. Scott shook his head, still smiling. 

“I guess I can’t argue with that.” He pointed towards the stairs. “I’m going to go make sure Ellie doesn’t have any other questions about… anything. I guess I’ll see you later?” Stiles waved a hand in acknowledgement and walked towards the door, his thoughts already turning towards his shower and his bed.


	3. 3

When the alarm on his com went off the next morning, Stiles reached an arm blindly out and flung it across the room. He heard several thumps, a sound that reminded him of an avalanche, and the alarm continuing to beep. With a groan, he rolled over and stared at the ceiling. His bruises from the day before ached and his head felt like it was full of mush. For a while Stiles contemplated just staying in bed and forgetting about school all day. Then he sighed and forced himself to get out of bed, stumbling over to where his com was lying on the floor amid a pile of clothes that it had knocked off of a chair and shut the alarm off. He wanted to know how Ellie was doing today and if her parents had bought the story she and Andy had come up with or not. If he skipped school Andy probably wouldn’t tell him anything just to spite him. 

Since he’d showered the night before after getting home, Stiles had extra time that morning and got to school early, a strong cup of black coffee in his hand. He noted that there was still some police tape up around the terri-cross field. Apparently that hadn’t been totally taken care of yesterday. There was hardly anyone in the hallway, but when he walked into the math classroom Andy, Ellie, and Scott all looked up at him from where they were huddled together. He gave a little wave. 

“Morning.” 

“Hey Stiles.” Andy stood up, looking concerned. “Are you okay?” 

“Huh? Yeah.” Stiles looked down at his arms and saw that one of his bruises, near his elbow, was showing a vibrant purple. A ways below that was a red line where he’d gotten scratched on a tree. He’d also noted a large scrape on his forehead when he’d been in the bathroom that morning that was pretty exciting looking. Stiles tugged his rolled up sweatshirt sleeves down to cover the elbow bruise. 

“I’m okay,” he told Andy. “Really. Kind of achy, but that’s it.” He looked at Ellie. She was still pale, but looked a lot better than she had in the forest yesterday. “Are you okay?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she said, giving him a faint smile. “My parents didn’t ask too many questions. They seemed to just accept that someone had broken in while I wasn’t there.” 

“That’s something at least.” Stiles walked over to his seat, hissing as he bumped a bruise on the back of his leg sitting down. Andy sat next to him, still looking concerned. “So what’s the early morning conference all about?” 

“Just debriefing, mostly,” Scott said quietly. He smiled hesitantly at Stiles. “I double checked last night after leaving Ellie’s place. The pack is gone.” 

“Hopefully gone for good,” Andy said. “I don’t think any of us want to deal with them again.” 

“Definitely not,” Ellie said fervently. “I would be happy to never deal with anything supernatural again.” 

“Except for Scott?” Andy asked. Ellie stuck her tongue out at her friend. 

“Hopefully you won’t have to deal with any of it again,” Scott said with a sigh. “Usually when there’s anything like that around I try and deal with it before anyone else gets involved.” 

“You mean you did that where you grew up too?” Ellie asked. Scott’s eyes widened a little bit, as if he was surprised. 

“Uh. Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “The point is you don’t have to be involved with it anymore.” Stiles thought about this. How much experience did Scott have in taking care of supernatural threats to be so confident now? Andy looked skeptical too but when she spoke up it was clear that she wasn’t thinking about Scott’s experience. 

“Do these kinds of things happen a lot?” She asked. “It seems like if they did it would be too much for one person to deal with.” 

“It’s not that they happen often, necessarily,” Scott said. “The thing with Beacon Hills is…” He trailed off as two girls from their class came in the door laughing. Andy raised her eyebrows. 

“Not the best place to have this conversation?” She suggested. 

“We’ve probably had weirder ones in this room,” Stiles commented. 

“Unfortunately I don’t think I can argue with that,” Ellie sighed. “I agree with Andy though. After school maybe? You two have terri-cross practice…” She looked at Scott, who shrugged. Stiles noticed that when he did the sleeve of the T-shirt he was wearing rode up to reveal the bottom of what looked like a black tattoo. 

“I’m fine with talking after that, if you still have some questions I can answer,” Scott said. “I don’t know how much you want to know though.” 

“After school then.” Andy turned to the front and started pulling out her things for math class. Ellie pulled her com out of the side of her bag. When she saw Stiles looking at it she smiled at him. 

“I told my mom that it fell out of the window of Andy’s car,” she said. “She’s going to take me to get it refurbished later this week.” 

“Nice.” Stiles turned towards the front of the room as more people started streaming in. As he did, he whacked his leg on the leg of his desk and hissed in pain, resisting the urge to swear at the top of his lungs with difficulty. He was taking deep breaths when he felt a touch on the back of his neck and, like the day before, the pain vanished. He turned his head to see Scott sitting back in his chair, the last traces of black fading from his arm. 

“Uh. Thanks.” Stiles awkwardly smiled at Scott before turning away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Andy smiling in a self-satisfied sort of way. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from demanding she tell him what she was so pleased about. He had a feeling he didn’t want to know. 

Terri-cross practice that day consisted mostly of Coach Carrol showing them the damage to the locker room and lecturing them on the inappropriateness of playing pranks that resulted in the destruction of school property. She shot Stiles several suspicious looks but he kept his very best innocent expression on his face and she eventually seemed to give up. Stiles also had to avoid looking at Scott. He had a feeling that if he met the alpha’s eyes he wouldn’t be able to help himself from laughing at the absurdity of Coach telling them that crowbars weren’t allowed on school property when he knew that in reality a crazy wolf girl had ripped the door off with her bare hands. 

After practice, the two boys met the girls outside the school. Stiles wasn’t sure how he felt about this. If yesterday was any indication, spending time around Scott could lead to more crazy supernatural incidents. He didn’t feel like getting banged up like he had yesterday on a regular basis. On the other hand, Stiles remembered how Scott had been worried about Ellie just as much as the rest of them. He’d helped them track down where she was, made sure they knew what they needed to know to rescue her, and in the end he’d even saved Stiles from those crazy blue eyed werewolves. It was enough to make Stiles start thinking that maybe Scott wasn’t so bad after all, but his stubborn half didn’t want him to give up that easily. 

“Where to?” Andy asked outside her car. “I’d normally offer my house, but my parents are having friends over tonight.” 

“My house is out too,” Ellie said. “The window in my room is getting replaced today and there’s workmen everywhere.” Both girls looked at Stiles. He sighed. 

“We can go over to my house,” he said reluctantly. “I’m warning you though, my mom’s not working today. She’s going to be there and she loves spending time with my friends.” 

“We could always go to my apartment,” Scott offered. The other three looked at him and he reached up to rub his neck. “I live alone, so no risk of parents overhearing things.” 

“You live alone?” Ellie asked in surprise. “Didn’t your parents move down here with you?” 

“Not exactly.” Scott shrugged and looked away. Stiles frowned and made a mental note. He still hadn’t shaken the feeling that there was something off about Scott McCall, something more than just being a werewolf if that was possible. 

“Well, it works for me. Hop in.” Stiles found himself in the backseat next to Scott. Andy looked over her shoulder at them. “Where are we going exactly?” 

“Yukimura Apartments,” Scott said. “It’s over by the water reservoir.” Andy tapped her com for a moment and pulled up a map, which hovered by the windshield of the car as she pulled out into the road. Stiles was trying to place the name of the apartment building. He snapped his fingers. 

“That’s the apartment place that keeps having the electricity issues, my mom said.” 

“Stiles’ mom works at the local power plant,” Andy explained. 

“What about your dad?” Scott asked. Stiles felt the familiar sinking of his stomach at the question. 

“We don’t really talk about him,” he said quietly. Scott looked guilty, as if he knew he’d stepped into a topic he shouldn’t have. An awkward silence was prevented when Ellie spoke up. 

“To return to our conversation from this morning,” she said brightly, “you were saying something about Beacon Hills, Scott. Is there a reason that those… people came here?” 

“Sort of.” Scott took a deep breath. “See, the forest here has this giant tree stump in it called the Nemeton. It’s a relic from the days of the druids, so it’s really old and has a lot of power in it.” 

“A magic tree stump,” Stiles said flatly. 

“Sort of,” Scott said. “It didn’t used to have a lot of magic in it, but it got activated again about a hundred years ago or so. Now it has enough power that it kind of broadcasts itself to all sorts of supernatural creatures, not just werewolves. Lots of them want to try and take the power that the Nemeton has.” 

“So this Nemeton is like some kind of super magnet that attracts supernatural things?” Ellie said. 

“That’s a pretty good way of putting it,” Scott agreed. They pulled up to the curb in front of the tall apartment building. Scott led the way up the stairs and unlocked a door on the third floor to reveal a small but neat apartment. The living room was full of worn furniture. Stiles, settling onto the couch, noticed a picture sitting on a table nearby of Scott with a woman that shared his warm eyes and his smile. She was wearing a nurse’s uniform and had an arm around Scott’s shoulders. 

“Okay.” Stiles looked up from the picture to where Scott was sitting in a chair, his hands clasped in his lap. “What all do you guys want to know?” 

“How long have you been a werewolf?” Ellie asked curiously. 

“I got bitten when I was 16.” Scott shrugged. “And I’m 18 now, so… it’s been a while.” Stiles frowned. 

“Why are you a junior if you’re 18?” 

“The werewolf thing kind of threw off my school life,” Scott said awkwardly. Andy leaned forward from where she was sitting next to Stiles. 

“About what I was saying earlier this morning,” she said. “If this… Nemeton thing is attracting supernatural creatures to Beacon Hills, do you really expect to take care of it all by yourself Scott? I know that you’re some big alpha werewolf and all, but it seems to me like there would be a limit to what you can do.” Scott shrugged one shoulder. 

“Lots of alphas bite people to make betas and expand their pack,” he said. “I’m not really comfortable with that at this point though. I do okay by myself.” 

“I bet you did better with our help this time.” Andy crossed her arms. Stiles easily identified her most stubborn facial expression. “You should let us help you with whatever else comes up.” Stiles jiggled his com with one hand as he watched Scott. After Andy finished talking, his eyes had instantly flicked over to Stiles. 

“It’s not exactly safe,” he started to say. Ellie interrupted him this time. 

“I think I noticed the not safe part,” she said. “But Scott, Andy’s right. You can’t just try and do everything yourself. If nothing else we can be backup for you.” Scott looked at Stiles again. 

“Are you in on this too?” He asked. Stiles shook his head. 

“Neither of them said anything to me,” he said flatly. “Quite honestly I don’t think it’s my problem, but I do agree with them. Werewolf or not you can’t expect to do everything.” He shrugged and turned to Andy. “Now, if you did need backup, you could do worse. Andy’s good with her knives. She also learned to shoot a bow and arrow when she was in France a few summers back at her uncle’s place and she’s been interested in supernatural stuff her whole life practically. Ellie’s as smart as they come, so even if she can’t kill something she can definitely help you find out information about it.” 

“You’re the one who’s good at research,” Ellie retorted. She had a pleased smile on her face regardless. 

“The point is,” Stiles continued, “If they’re offering to help you, they not only mean it but they can actually be helpful.” 

“High praise coming from you,” Andy said, shoving him lightly in the shoulder. Stiles grinned at her. Scott was quiet, apparently thinking. 

“All right,” he said at last. “I’ll at least tell you next time something comes up. If it’s something that’s going to put you in danger though I’m taking care of it without you. I don’t want anyone getting hurt on my watch.” 

“I don’t think you’re going to get a better offer than that,” Stiles informed Andy. 

“It’s a deal,” she told Scott. 

“So what are some of the other creatures you’ve dealt with before?” Ellie asked. “You said it wasn’t all werewolves.” 

“Most of it was a long time ago,” Scott said. “I remember this one time where there was this lizard man called a kanima killing people…” Stiles listened with half an ear as Scott went through several types of monsters he’d seen, ranging from wendigos to an encounter with a really cranky vampire. He was thinking about what Scott had said about how long he’d been a werewolf. If he was telling the truth, it had only been two years. The stories he was telling didn’t seem like they could fit inside that time frame. There was also the phrases that Scott kept using, things like “it was a long time ago”. How long ago could that possibly have been, if it was only two years? Why did Scott know so much about Beacon Hills and the supernatural things in this town if he claimed he’d only moved here recently? Something wasn’t adding up. 

When Andy dropped Stiles off at home several hours later, he gave her the slightest of waves as he walked up to his door, still thinking about Scott. His mom was in the living room when he came in. She smiled when she saw him. 

“Hey Stiles. How was your day?” 

“Odd,” he said. She looked him over, her brow furrowing. 

“What happened to your forehead and your arm?” She asked. Stiles glanced down. The bruise he’d covered up several times during the day was showing again. He twitched his sleeve over it. 

“Terri-cross practice,” he invented. “I fell, it’s no big deal.” 

“Well it certainly looks like it hurts.” Mrs. Stilinski tilted her head. “Do you want me to make you some dinner?” 

“No, it’s okay. I have some research to do. School stuff.” Stiles leaned over and kissed his mom on the forehead. “I’ll come make myself a sandwich or something later. You can stay put.” 

“If you say so.” She watched as he walked up the stairs. Stiles closed his bedroom door behind him and sat in his desk chair, looking out the window in deep thought. The more he thought it, the more inconsistencies he found in Scott’s background story. The question remained; what was he going to do about it? 

After a few minutes of deep thought, Stiles pulled his com out of his pocket and put it on his desk, activating the screen and keyboard. He started researching. The first thing he did was to go to the school website. A few minutes of work and he had broken into the staff only part of the site, where he then found the place where all the registration documents were stored. He pulled up Scott’s and examined it. It said he’d moved from someplace called Half Moon Bay, California. Stiles tracked down their school website, which proudly proclaimed that the Cougars Terri-cross team had won their season opener. Searching all over the site, Stiles didn’t find a single mention of a Scott McCall. Next he tried searching the local news of the town of Half Moon Bay. Again, Scott’s name didn’t come up anywhere. 

Back on the Beacon Hills site, Stiles did a general search for Scott McCall. He scrolled past the first few results, which were about different people named Scott. He was nearing the bottom of the page, which had results from the archives of Beacon Hills, and was about to close the page when something caught his eye. It was a link to the yearbook archives and it proclaimed that Scott McCall had been the lacrosse team captain that year. Stiles clicked over with a frown. The yearbook archives went back as far as the paper copies in the library had. They were searchable and were meant to let people find old high school pictures of their relatives. It was possible that this Scott McCall was a relative of the current one. Stiles typed in his search and hit enter. Then he froze. The senior year picture of Scott McCall from the year 2013 at Beacon Hills High School was displayed on the screen hovering over his com. From the hair, to the jawline, to the shape of his nose, it was the exact image of the Scott McCall that Stiles had been sitting across from less than an hour ago. 

“Holy hell,” he whispered. He clicked back a year in the yearbook archive and searched again. The junior year picture was also the exact same person. Going back to the general search engine, Stiles looked for news articles featuring Scott McCall in 2013. Clicking on the first one, he saw a picture of the same person wearing a lacrosse uniform and laughing. The words Scott had said when he’d been asked about terri-cross flashed through his head; “I used to play something similar”. Stiles sat back in his chair, his eyes stretched wide. 

“Are werewolves immortal?” He asked the air in his room. “I don’t think he said anything about that.” He stared at the article for a while more before closing the screen and standing up to pace, his mind racing. If Scott was really over a hundred years old, then parts of his story that didn’t fit before started to fall into place. There was time for all of the crazy monsters that he’d talked about to have passed through town. He’d been bitten when he was 16, but he’d been 16 ages ago. He probably hadn’t moved from Half Moon Bay at all but had been here in Beacon Hills all along, and his schooling had just gotten screwed up because he’d graduated over a hundred years ago. 

“This is insane,” Stiles whispered to himself. “This is just totally, utterly, completely insane.” Then again, he realized, two days ago he would have said the same thing about werewolves existing at all. He chewed on his lower lip, trying to calm himself down and think about what he should do. Should he go straight to Scott and ask what was going on? More likely than not he wouldn’t want to talk about it. If he’d really been alive this long and hadn’t brought it up in the conversations since he’d revealed he was a werewolf, Scott probably was hoping none of them would find out about it. Ellie wasn’t the best person to go to with this either. She’d probably just suggest that they go to Scott and ask him. That left Andy as the best person to talk to about this. Stiles sat down and called her. When her face came up on his holo-screen, Stiles realized that she was lying in bed. 

“Stiles,” she said, “It’s not that I don’t enjoy talking to you, but have you ever considered the fact that other people need sleep?” 

“Sleep can wait,” he said. “Look, Andy, I think I found out something about Scott.” 

“Can it wait until the morning?” Stiles made his hands into fists and then released them, trying not to let his nervous energy out into his voice. 

“Look, it’s just that I was looking at the website for his old high school, and he wasn’t on there, so I started looking around, and-” 

“You were stalking him?” Andy asked sleepily. Stiles glared. 

“No, I was not stalking him. That implies that I was following him around. I was just trying to find background information on him, that’s all.” 

“Only kind of stalking then.” Andy yawned. “Look Stiles, let’s talk about this in the morning, all right? I’ll come pick you up.” 

“But-” 

“Good night, Stiles.” Andy hung up. Stiles resisted the urge to throw his com at the wall in frustration. With a sinking feeling in his stomach he realized that he had no choice but to wait. Andy was flexible about a lot of things, but if he tried to call her now he knew she’d just ignore him. Even if it was late enough for bed, Stiles knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he tried. He was too wired at this point. He stood up and headed downstairs. He’d make himself something to eat and then start compiling all of his evidence to show to Andy in the morning. 

Stiles climbed into the passenger seat of Andy’s car the next morning with coffee in one hand and his com in the other. His friend looked at him with raised eyebrows, taking in his rumpled T-shirt and hair sticking out in more directions than usual. 

“Did you sleep at all last night?” She asked him. 

“Uh.” Stiles thought about this for a minute. “Like two or three hours?” 

“Stiles!” Andy shook her head as she pulled away from the curb. “Do I even want to know what you were doing?” 

“Researching,” Stiles said. “I tried to tell you about it.” 

“Right. You were looking up stuff about Scott. Not creepy at all, by the way.” Andy glanced over as they stopped at a traffic light. “So?” 

“What?” 

“So what did you find out?” 

“Oh.” Stiles grabbed his com and pulled up the screen of notes from the night before, with the picture of the Scott from the past at the top. Andy looked at it, her eyes widening, and then turned back to the road as the light turned green. 

“Where’d you get that picture of Scott?” She asked casually. 

“Off the Beacon Hills website,” Stiles said. “It was in a yearbook from over a hundred years ago.” 

“In a…” Andy blinked a few times. “Are you sure?” 

“Yes I’m sure!” Stiles scrolled down, revealing the other three yearbook pictures that he’d pulled from the website. “Look, here’s the picture from the 2010 yearbook. It’s obviously the same person, the name is the same, the face is the same, everything!” He sat back and glared at the grinning fourteen year old Scott McCall. “I was trying to put together a timeline of all the stuff he told us about yesterday, but it wasn’t making sense so I decided to look at his old high school. If he lived in Half Moon Bay, he never went to school there.” 

“So you think… what?” Andy parked her car and turned to Stiles. “That Scott’s somehow a hundred years old?” 

“I don’t know! You’d think he would have mentioned it with all the weird werewolf stuff, but he didn’t. This is definitely the same person though.” Andy tapped the steering wheel with her fingers, obviously thinking. 

“It does look like the same person,” she admitted. “So what did you want to do about it?” Stiles stared at her. He really hadn’t thought about what to do past giving the information to Andy. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “There’s too much weird stuff going on here. I can’t think.” 

“I’m guessing you can’t think because of lack of sleep and quite possibly too much caffeine.” Andy reached over and confiscated Stiles’ coffee. “How much of this have you had?” 

“I don’t think you actually want to know.” 

“You’re probably right.” Andy looked like she was considering confiscating the coffee, so Stiles quickly snatched it back. “Honestly, I’m tempted to say that we shouldn’t even bring this up.” 

“How much coffee I’ve had?” 

“The Scott thing,” Andy said. “Although you probably shouldn’t bring up how much coffee you’ve had either, if it comes to that.” 

“You don’t think we should, I don’t know, ask Scott what’s going on?” Stiles asked, wrenching his tired brain around back to the picture that was still on his com’s holo-screen with an effort. 

“Not really.” Andy shrugged. “Look, Stiles, he told us about the werewolf thing when it was important for us to know, right? So if he’s somehow really old, or immortal, or whatever, he’ll tell us when we need to know. Maybe he’s just not comfortable telling us now.” 

“Do you think that’s the sort of thing he’s likely to ever tell us?” Stiles asked skeptically. “I can’t exactly see it coming up in casual conversation.” 

“Just relax,” Andy told him firmly as she opened her car door. “If it’s important I’m sure we’ll hear about it sooner or later. Now come on, you can’t just sit in the car all day.” Stiles sighed and closed out the holo-screen. He drained the rest of his coffee before leaving the car and following his friend inside. 

By lunchtime, Stiles’ caffeine was wearing off. Andy eyed the giant cup of coffee in front of him with narrowed eyes as she sat down next to him. 

“You do realize you’re going to crash this afternoon, right?” Stiles waved a hand in dismissal. 

“It won’t be the first time.” Andy looked up and smiled at Scott, who was sitting down across from her. 

“Hey Scott.” Her eyes fell on the soda next to his lunch. “You’re not trying to down an entire month’s worth of caffeine in one day too, are you?” 

“Huh? No.” Scott looked at Stiles and his coffee questioningly. Andy was only too happy to fill him in. 

“Stiles sometimes gets it into his head that coffee is a reasonable substitute for sleep. It tends not to end well.” 

“Thank you for that lovely summary,” Stiles said dryly. “You know perfectly well why I wasn’t sleeping last night.” 

“Why weren’t you?” Scott asked, looking concerned. 

“Researching stuff,” Stiles said vaguely. He was mentally comparing the pictures from the yearbook with the person in front of him. 

“You seem to like research.” 

“I think saying that Stiles gets weirdly obsessed with research would be more accurate,” Ellie put in as she joined the group. “He gets things into his head and spends hours trying to find all the information he can on them.” She looked at Stiles. “What was it this time?” 

“Nothing important,” Stiles said, glaring at Andy as she kicked his leg under the table in a reminder to not talk about it. 

“Speaking of finding things out, did you ever look into that bracelet we found?” Andy wanted to know. Stiles shook his head. Scott looked up from his food with a frown. 

“Is that the same bracelet that I saw at your place Saturday?” Stiles nodded. 

“It’s just a bracelet that was kind of buried in the preserve,” he said. “I was curious where it came from.” 

“It reminds me of a bracelet that a friend of mine used to have,” Scott said. “If you do find out anything I’d like to know.” Stiles shrugged in a noncommittal way. He let the conversation at the table continue around him as his thoughts turned back to what he’d found the night before. If Scott really was the same person, it would explain why he didn’t have his own com unit. Stiles had wondered about that a little. These days people usually got their first coms in middle school. To say that it was unusual for a junior in high school to not have a com was like saying it was unusual for fish not to swim. Coms were everywhere. 

“Stiles!” Ellie snapped her fingers in front of his face, making him jump. 

“What?” He asked. “I was thinking!” 

“More like falling asleep in your coffee,” she told him. “I’m getting my com refurbished after school today. Andy and Scott are coming; do you want to tag along?” Stiles glanced at Scott, who was looking hopefully at him. 

“Maybe some other time,” he said. “I think I need to go home and get some sleep.” 

“I can’t argue with that,” Andy said with a laugh. The bell rang, indicating the next class. Stiles downed the rest of his coffee and stood up with a groan. He walked out of the room, trying to focus his mind on Physics instead of werewolves with too many secrets. 

In the week that followed, Stiles found it easier than he expected to not freak out every time he saw Scott. His mind was still compiling a list of all of the things that seemed to fit in with the werewolf being from 100 years ago; things like how Scott’s worst class was Programming, how he was amazed by the antigravity when the four of them finally did go bowling, and the way he was constantly asking questions about what coms could do. Despite that, Stiles found himself actually having fun the times they hung out together. Movie night Friday was at Andy’s house. They watched a few incredibly pointless action movies, laughing and adding their own commentary on the ridiculous dialogue. That Saturday, Ellie finally dragged both boys to the holo-domes with her and Andy. Each dome was programmable so that the people inside could experience any kind of environment they wanted. The look on Scott’s face when Stiles programmed the dome to put them on the surface of a fake moon, complete with lowered gravity levels, was enough to make Stiles laugh harder than he had in months. Even though there were parts of him that didn’t want to like and trust Scott, Stiles was discovering that taking their group of friends from three to four wasn’t bothering him as much as he’d thought it would. Even watching Ellie flirt with Scott slowly became less of an annoyance when it became abundantly clear that Scott wasn’t flirting back. 

“I’m glad you’re getting along with him,” Andy commented on Wednesday when Stiles was over at her house doing homework while his mom was at work. 

“If you’re going to say something along the lines of ‘I told you so’, save your breath,” Stiles told her. “No smugness allowed. I’m still not over the whole one hundred year old werewolf thing.” 

“I didn’t say you were,” she said calmly, circling the answer to a math problem on the paper in front of her. “You’re handling it well though.” Stiles sighed, leaning back in his chair and fiddling with the zipper on his sweatshirt. 

“The problem,” he said, “Is that as much as I’m suspicious of him, he also seems like he’s just so…” He gestured into the air, trying to come up with a good word. 

“Innocent?” Andy suggested. 

“Not quite, but close. I just can’t figure it out. He could be in the middle of the popular group at school if he wanted to, he’s already in the middle of this whole werewolf, supernatural monsters craziness, and yet he seems perfectly content to just go get milkshakes with us.” Andy put her pencil down and smiled at him. 

“Incredibly, some people are just nice people, without all of the ulterior motives that seem to make you tick,” she said. “Relax, Stiles. Enjoy the fact that you have a new friend who’s already proven that he’s willing to put up with all the little odd things that make you who you are.” 

“I don’t know,” Stiles said, starting to smile. “Three whole people in this world who can put up with me is a lot.” 

“Three seems just about right,” Andy said. “Now if we find a fourth, that’s when I’ll start to worry.” She looked at her com. “Speaking of Scott, Ellie said they were going to meet up to compare notes for tomorrow’s Health test at that coffee shop we went to last time. You interested?” Stiles grimaced. 

“Some other time,” he said. “I want to get dinner ready for when mom gets home.” Andy nodded, standing up and grabbing her bag. 

“Need a ride?” 

“Nah, I’ll walk.” Stiles stuffed his things in his bag. “After all, the weather isn’t going to be nice enough for walking much longer. I should enjoy it while I can.” 

“Sounds good.” They walked outside together, where Andy headed for her car and Stiles started down the sidewalk with a wave behind him. The air was still warm, but he could feel that it would be cold as soon as the sun went down all the way. Stiles took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of fallen leaves that was in the air. He caught himself thinking about the conversation he’d had with Andy. Maybe she was right. Maybe it wasn’t so bad having another friend who seemed to want to spend time with him, even if Scott was still hiding some things about being a werewolf from them. If Stiles was good at anything, it was finding things out. He could always just ask about the yearbook photos, regardless of what Andy said. 

Stiles was only a few blocks from home when his stomach lurched. The ground under his feet started to tremble, making him stumble. He fell backwards, landing with a thud on the sidewalk in a sitting position. The shaking stopped as suddenly as it had started, leaving Stiles breathing heavily and trying to get his bearings. It must have been an earthquake, he realized. There hadn’t been one in Beacon Hills for quite a while. He was about to stand up when there was a creaking sound above him. Stiles looked up in time to hear a large cracking noise and see a giant branch break off from the tree next to him and start falling straight towards him. He barely had time to register what he was seeing before there was someone standing between him and the tree. The person raised an arm and punched the oncoming branch. With a thwack, it split and fell harmlessly in several pieces around Stiles, who was sitting and staring numbly. The figure turned to look at him, and Stiles instantly recognized Scott. 

“Are you okay?” The werewolf asked, crouching down next to him. “Are you hurt anywhere? You didn’t break anything when you fell?” Stiles stared at him. A single thought floated to the top and out his mouth. 

“What are you doing here?” Scott looked confused. 

“I was just walking by and I saw you. I was going to come over and say something, but then the earthquake-” 

“No,” Stiles said, pulling his wrist away from where Scott had grabbed it and standing up. “I mean what are you doing here, Scott? Andy said you were supposed to meet her and Ellie to study. The coffee shop is in a completely different part of town, there’s no reason for you to be here!” Scott slowly stood up, his eyes on Stiles. Suddenly Stiles’ mind presented him with the image of the footprints he’d seen in the woods. Stiles looked down. Scott’s feet were just about the same size as his own. That made them just about the same size as those footprints. He slowly looked back at Scott’s face. 

“It was you, wasn’t it?” He said softly. “That night in the woods.” Scott flinched. 

“Stiles-” 

“You’ve been following me?” Stiles asked, his voice raised now. “You just decided, hey, I know what sounds like fun, let’s use my special alpha powers to stalk someone?” 

“I didn’t-” 

“You didn’t what?” Stiles yelled. “Are you actually going to try to convince me that’s not what you’ve been doing? Here I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, I could actually trust you, and then I find out that you’ve been lying about this too? Like it’s not enough that you lied to us about when you got bitten!” 

“I never lied about that!” Scott said. His eyes were wide as he reached towards the other boy. “Stiles, please, just listen-” 

“I’m not going to listen to a single word you say! I should have just trusted my gut instincts when they told me to avoid you, because in the end you’re just some creepy supernatural stalker who’s been alive for over a hundred years!” Scott took a step backwards at those last words. Stiles, breathing heavily, felt a sense of satisfaction at having stopped his protests. “Are you going to try and deny that too?” He asked. Scott didn’t say anything. He still looked stunned, as if the tree branch had hit his head instead of his fist. Stiles waited for a response. It felt like ages before Scott took a deep, shuddering breath. 

“Look,” he said softly, “I’m not sure when you figured it out, but there’s a reason that I didn’t tell you earlier.” 

“I’m sure there is,” Stiles snapped. “Unfortunately for you, I don’t want to hear it.” He glared at the werewolf. “Don’t come near me, Scott. I don’t want anything else to do with you.” Stiles walked off down the sidewalk, ignoring the sound of his name behind him, and didn’t stop until he was in his own house. Once inside Stiles stomped up the stairs to his room where he threw his bag against the wall. It burst open and everything inside clattered across the floor. Stiles marched over to the window, ignoring the mess he’d just made, and tightly closed the blinds so that no one could see in. Then he flung himself on his bed, seething. 

“Of all the stupid, half-brained, idiotic, infuriating people,” he muttered under his breath. His com rang from inside his pocket. Stiles pulled it out and glared at it before answering. The holo-screen came up to show Andy’s face. 

“Are you okay?” She asked. 

“Depends on your definition,” Stiles asked. “If you mean ‘Did you get hurt when the earthquake hit’, then the answer is no I didn’t.” 

“Thank goodness,” Andy sighed. “I pulled up in the parking lot right before it happened and my first thought was that you were probably still outside.” 

“Yeah.” Stiles tried a smile. “I’m okay, Andy. Go on and get your studying done.” She peered at him, looking doubtful. 

“Are you sure you’re okay? You sound like you’re upset about something.” 

“Andy, I saw you less than half an hour ago. What could possibly have happened between then and now?” 

“Knowing you? Just about anything.” Andy smiled. “All right, if you’re sure. Talk to you later Stiles.” She ended the call, leaving Stiles alone with his thoughts again. He flung an arm over his eyes. He was still angry at Scott, at least a little. It was as if all his initial suspicions had been proven right. Scott was not only a werewolf, not only a hundred years old, but also had been stalking Stiles for no apparent reason. 

And yet, a small part of Stiles pointed out shyly, Scott had saved Stiles today. That branch was large enough that it would have seriously hurt him. It was only because Scott was there that nothing bad had happened. 

Only because Scott had been stalking him. 

He’d saves Stiles when they’d been trying to get Ellie back too. He’d been kind of fun to spend time with lately. He was a nice person. 

He wasn’t a person, he was a werewolf. 

“Auuuugh!” Stiles sat up and glared at the closed blinds on his window. He wasn’t getting anywhere thinking in circles like this. Stiles stood up and went downstairs to the kitchen, where he threw himself into making dinner. He was pulling a baked macaroni and cheese out of the oven when his mom walked through the door. 

“Mmmm, that smells amazing,” she said with a sigh. “Are you all right after that earthquake?” 

“Yeah,” Stiles said. “It didn’t knock power out, did it?” 

“We had one underground line go down, but it didn’t affect most of the city.” Mrs. Stilinski came into the kitchen and kissed Stiles’ cheek. “I’m glad you’re all right. I tried calling on my break but you didn’t answer.” 

“Oh. I guess I left my com upstairs.” His mom pulled back and looked at him in concern. 

“Something’s wrong,” she said. “Did something happen at school?” 

“Not exactly.” Stiles shifted his feet, not really sure what to say. Mrs. Stilinski watched him for a moment and then turned towards the fridge, grabbing two sodas out of it. 

“Grab some plates,” she instructed. “We can talk while we eat.” 

“Mom, you’re supposed to cut down on your sugar intake,” Stiles reminded her as he opened a cupboard and took out two plates. He pulled a spoon out of a drawer and started dishing out macaroni and cheese. 

“I haven’t had any soda for at least a week,” she said. “It won’t kill me.” She snagged two forks and took them and the drinks to the table. Stiles followed with the plates of food. They ate in silence for a while. Mrs. Stilinski was halfway through her plate of pasta when she put her fork down and looked at her son. 

“So talk,” she said. Stiles knew better than to try and brush it off. Even more so than Andy, his mom knew when something was wrong. Instead he put down his own fork, trying to think about how to best phrase his problem without bringing anything supernatural into it. He didn’t think his mom was quite ready for that revelation. 

“There’s this new guy at school,” he said finally. “He started a few weeks ago, his name’s Scott. He… I didn’t really like him at first, but he really wanted to be friends with us I guess, and we started hanging out a bit more and I started not hating him as much.” He fiddled with his soda can. “And then… I found out that he’s been lying about a couple of things, and now I’m kind of mad at him and at me, because I should have known better.” His mom was watching him, her brown eyes serious. 

“Do you like this boy?” Stiles made a frustrated sound. 

“I don’t know! Andy and Ellie both really like him, but…” He shook his head, not sure how to finish his sentence. 

“You know,” his mom said thoughtfully after a moment, “I remember when you first met Andy. I’d taken you to the park to play and she was there with her parents. She made a beeline straight towards you and wanted to play in the sandbox with you.” She smiled at him. “But you didn’t want anything to do with her at first. You just kept running away and looking at me like I’d betrayed you for taking you there in the first place. Andy never gave up though. About the third time I took you there and she was there, she came up with her little shovel and bucket and you finally didn’t run away.” She took another bite of her pasta. “Now, I’m not saying it’s the same with this boy. For one thing I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to play in a sandbox with you. You’ve never been one to make friends quickly though, Stiles, and that’s not a bad thing.” 

“What about the lying?” Stiles asked. 

“It depends on how serious the lies are, sweetie,” his mom said. “You and Andy have had fights before, and I know for a fact that each of you has lied to the other from time to time. I don’t know what this Scott lied to you about, but if I were you I’d ask him why he didn’t tell you. It could be that while you’re wondering if you can trust him, he’s been wondering the same thing about you. It has only been a few weeks.” She stood up with her empty plate. “You’re smart, Stiles. I know that you’ll make a good decision.” She reached out and messed up his hair before putting her plate in the sink and heading upstairs. Stiles finished his own dinner, thinking about what she’d said. Then he went upstairs and grabbed his com and a jacket before going back downstairs and out onto the back porch. 

Just like he’d thought earlier, before the earthquake, the night was a bit cold. He looked up into the clear sky at the stars twinkling overhead. The moon was waxing, currently at about three quarters of full. Stiles sat on the porch swing that his mom had always loved and just breathed the night air in for a while, listening to the sounds around him. There was the slight creak of the porch swing as he adjusted his seat. There was the sound of an owl hooting somewhere in the distance. A passing breeze hit the back of Stiles’ neck, making him shiver a little. 

“All right,” he said at last. “Scott, if you’re out here, I want to talk.” He felt ridiculous talking to the empty air outside his house. Scott had said that werewolves had good hearing, but there was always the chance that he’d gone home after the earthquake and Stiles really was talking to thin air. A minute ticked by, then another one. Just when Stiles was about to give up a shadow slowly came out from behind one of the trees in the backyard and walked forward. Stiles held up his com for a little light and watched Scott stop about a foot away from the porch, looking awkward. 

“Look, Stiles,” he said quietly. “I understand that you’re angry-” 

“I’m not,” Stiles interrupted. “Uh. Angry, I mean. I was angry for a while, but...” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t exactly give you a chance to explain why you were there, and that’s not really fair of me either. I’m not happy, exactly, but.” He stopped talking and took a deep breath. “What I’m failing to say here is, I’m going to let you explain. I can’t promise that we’ll be best friends after you do, but I’ll hear you out.” Scott’s eyes had gotten steadily wider as he listened to this. 

“So… you’re not going to yell at me again?” He asked. 

“My mom’s inside and would wonder what the hell I was doing, so no.” Stiles tilted his head. “Tomorrow, no guarantees.” Scott smiled a little at that and walked forward to sit on the edge of the porch with his back to Stiles. He folded his hands, tapping his thumbs together and seemingly lost in thought. Stiles was about to say something when Scott starting talking, his voice quiet. 

“I know that you heard the conversation between me and Ellie that Saturday,” he said. “About my childhood friend.” 

“How did you know…” Stiles trailed off as Scott looked at him. “Right. Werewolf hearing.” 

“Yeah.” Scott took a deep breath. “Well… you were right, with what you said earlier. The things I told her about that day didn’t happen recently. All of it happened just about a hundred years ago.” He was quiet again for a few minutes, as if he didn’t know how to continue. Stiles pulled his legs up onto the swing to sit cross legged. 

“Is immortality just another one of those werewolf things?” He finally asked. Scott shook his head. 

“Definitely not. I should probably start at the beginning though.” He sighed. “I was bitten by a werewolf when I was 16 years old. That was in 2011.” Stiles did the math in his head; 114 years ago. “I had no idea what was happening, or that werewolves existed, or what to do with the powers that came with it. There was… a lot of stuff that happened around that time, more than I can tell you in one go.” He looked up at the sky. “But that friend I told Ellie about was the one who got me through it. He helped me learn how to control what was going on even though he had no idea werewolves existed until I was bitten either. There are times when I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t have made it through that first year without him. 

“I didn’t become an alpha until later. Alphas have so much more power, such a different power, that once again I was dealing with something I wasn’t sure I could handle. My friend helped me through all of that too. He was the kind of person who was always there for me, even when he was dealing with things in his own life. We were trying to handle one supernatural creature after another, and there were times when I thought I’d lost him for sure. One time in particular…” Scott shuddered. “There was a situation where people kept telling me the only way to save lives was to kill him. I have no idea how we survived high school, but we managed it in the end. We were getting ready to go off to college together when it happened.” Scott was clenching his hands together so tightly that Stiles could see his knuckles starting to turn white. 

“I’m still not sure exactly how it happened. There were several different monsters we were dealing with at the time, incidents that we were trying to keep under control. I had a pack then that was helping me. None of us were sure what the exact cause was, but I stopped aging.” He shook his head in a short, jerky motion. “No, I guess it was less that and more like… more like my body was stuck in one moment in time. I’d cut my hair and it would grow back to how it had been before within a week. I suddenly didn’t have to shave anymore, or worry about getting hurt because it would heal. Werewolves heal fast, but even the most powerful take longer for something like broken bones. Mine would just snap back together like nothing had happened in hardly any time at all.” 

“You were immortal,” Stiles said quietly, trying and failing to imagine it. 

“Something like that.” Scott shrugged. “It’s not a lot of fun. I was panicking, trying to figure out what could have caused it and how I could reverse it. My friend was researching as much as he could, but a few years went by and he was getting older and I clearly wasn’t. He came up with a new plan.” Scott glanced back at Stiles. “There’s all kinds of magic users out there; Druids, witches, even demons, though those aren’t as scary as you’d think. My friend found a spell that would let a human reincarnate with all of their memories intact. He said that if we couldn’t find a solution soon, then he’d just be born again and help me for as many times as it took to figure it out. The spell was pretty straightforward, but it needed five sessions that were each a month apart to finish. We’d done four of them…” His voice seemed to choke off. Stiles finished his sentence, guessing what had happened. 

“Before he died?” Scott nodded, a jerky motion. 

“There was… a fire,” he said with difficulty. “A fire, and one of our friend’s parents were in it, and he tried to save them. I couldn’t get there in time to help him.” He shook his head. “We hadn’t finished the spell, and there I was burying my best friend and thinking that I’d have to live forever without him.” He was quiet for a while. Stiles was thinking about what he’d heard so far as he stared out at the shadows in the backyard. 

“So… you never left Beacon Hills,” he guessed. “You probably didn’t go back to school or I’d have found out when I was on the school website.” Scott glanced back at him, his eyes bright with tears Stiles pretended not to see. Stiles shrugged. “I found your picture in an old yearbook. That’s how I figured out the whole hundred years thing.” Scott nodded and turned away again. “What I don’t understand is why now? Why are you back at the high school and why spend time with us?” 

“Because the spell must have worked after all.” Stiles started feeling as though he had a wriggling fish in his stomach as Scott turned to look him full in the face. “Seventeen years ago, I started smelling something that hadn’t been in this town for over a hundred years. I told you that each person has a unique scent, and this one is one that I know better than anyone else’s.” Scott licked his lips nervously. “I was smelling you, Stiles.” 

“No.” The word was out of his mouth before Stiles had time to think about it. He could feel sweat prickling on his face despite the cool night air. 

“Yes,” Scott said. “My best friend all those years ago was Stiles Stilinski. Was you.” 

“No,” Stiles repeated, fighting the panic starting to creep over him. “No way. You said the spell was supposed to reincarnate someone with their memories, right? I don’t remember any of this! I didn’t know who you were until you walked into the cafeteria with Ellie!” 

“We never finished the spell,” Scott said, his eyes steadily watching Stiles. His voice wavered a little. “The last part must have been the part for memories. I know that it’s you, Stiles. There’s no other explanation for why you look the same, why you smell the same, why you even have the same name.” 

“So because you thought that I was what, your dead friend come back to life, you decided to stalk me?” Stiles wrapped his arms tightly around himself, wishing he’d never started this conversation. All he’d wanted to know was why Scott had been following him. This was more than he could handle. 

“I wanted to keep you safe!” Scott said, standing up. “Stiles, I lost you once when I couldn’t get to that fire. That’s not going to happen again. I’m not going to let you die again if there’s something I can do about it!” 

“I haven’t even died once!” Stiles stood up too, feeling his legs shaking under him. “Look, Scott, I get that you miss your friend. You’ve been alone for a long time and that’s hard, okay? That doesn’t mean that I’m this person that you think I am!” 

“Stiles!” Scott reached out towards him, but Stiles turned and practically ran back into his house, shutting the door behind him before sinking to the floor and putting his head in his hands. He could feel himself shaking all over as if his body was trying to physically reject what he’d just heard. This was why Scott had been so persistent about becoming friends with him. This was why he’d looked up, even in the past few days, to catch Scott’s eyes watching him like he was afraid Stiles would vanish at any moment. This was why Scott had looked so desperate the day he’d come after him in the forest and scared off the other werewolves. Scott thought that Stiles was his best friend from over a hundred years ago that had finally come back to him. 

Eventually, Stiles was able to take a few deep breaths and lever himself off the floor. He stood with one hand against the door, wondering if Scott was still out there and if he should go talk to him again. The hand against the wood tightened into a fist. Stiles wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to Scott ever again, let alone right now. Scott would just want to try and convince him that he was this other person, which wasn’t something Stiles wanted to hear. Instead he headed back upstairs to his room and sank into his desk chair, putting his com in front of him. There was one way to check what Scott had said, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. 

“Come on, Stilinski,” he whispered to himself. Reaching out, he activated his com and navigated to the Beacon Hills High School yearbook archive. Taking a deep breath to steel himself, Stiles typed in his own name. His finger hovered above the red laser lines that outlined the enter key on his desk, his breath starting to come short and fast. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to push down. With his heart thumping as loudly as a bass drum in his ears, Stiles opened his eyes. The first two pictures were of him his freshman and sophomore years. He remembered Andy chastising him for wearing the neon green T-shirt their first year. Stiles smiled a little at the memory and then made his eyes look further down the page. His heart skipped a beat as he stared at the next picture. 

Class of 2013, Stiles Stilinski. 

Stiles reached out with a shaking finger and touched the picture. It was his face. From the positioning of the freckles to the color of his hair to the tilt of his smile, there was no denying it. The hair was styled a little bit different and Stiles had never seen the green plaid shirt he was wearing before, but that was all. This was his face, and his name, in a past that he had no memories of. 

“This has to be a dream,” he said shakily, scrolling further down. There were the pictures from this Stiles’ freshman, sophomore, and junior years. Here was a picture of him on the lacrosse team. And here… Stiles froze. On the screen in front of him was a picture of the boy with his face with an arm around Scott McCall’s shoulders. They were both wearing red lacrosse jerseys and smiling. It was a smile that Stiles had never seen on Scott’s face before. There was a pure joy there, a happiness with none of the nervousness or weariness that crept in whenever Scott smiled these days. Stiles stared at it, feeling like most of his body had been dipped into an ice cold lake. Scott had been right. 

When he started unfreezing a bit, Stiles’ first reaction was to want to call Andy. He discarded that idea almost instantly. If nothing else, she was probably asleep. He wasn’t too sure he wanted anyone else to know about this yet anyway. His next thought was to wonder if he should go back outside and apologize to Scott. He might be able to find out more about this reincarnation spell and what exactly it involved. Stiles rejected that thought too. He definitely wasn’t ready to face Scott again just yet. Besides, even werewolves had to go home and sleep sometime. At least, Stiles hoped they did. He had a brief mental image of Scott sleeping in the tree outside his window and shook his head emphatically to get rid of it. 

“Maybe I’m going crazy and just haven’t realized it yet.” Stiles closed his eyes and pressed the heels of his palms into them. The more he tried to make sense of things the more it felt like they were slipping away from him. When he took his hands away from his eyes and looked again, the picture of Scott and the boy who looked just like him looked back at him. Stiles stared at it for a moment before making the gesture that shut the screen down, engulfing his room in darkness. Some light from the street outside filtered through his tightly closed blinds, making yellowish lines on the walls. One of them passed across a framed picture on his desk of him and Andy in middle school. She’d given it to him as a present for Christmas one year. As his eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, he could see the smiles on both of their faces. 

Stiles had had shorter hair back then, cropped close to his head. Andy’s hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the same long brown curls that she still had. It had been a day at the fair. Both of them had gotten their faces painted, Stiles with a spaceship on one side of his face and Andy with bright yellow stars on both of her cheeks. Picking it up, Stiles looked back towards where the screen from his com had been. How could both of the pictures be true? He remembered that day at the fair with Andy, their laughter, the cotton candy they’d both eaten until it almost made them sick, the sun beating down on them and giving Stiles a painful sunburn that had lasted an entire week. He didn’t remember standing with his arm around Scott McCall. 

Stiles shook his head and put the picture back on his desk. It didn’t matter if Scott thought he was his best friend from a century ago. The memories in his head told him that he was Stiles Stilinski, son of Jonah and Theresa Stilinski. He had been born on April 8th, 2108, right here in Beacon Hills. He’d been friends with Andy Graves since he was three and with Ellie Whittemore since he was six. Whatever or whoever Scott McCall thought he was, Stiles remembered his life. He wasn’t about to let a werewolf who’d spent too many years alone redefine everything on a whim. With that in mind, Stiles turned away from his desk and went to bed, determined that he was done dealing with Scott McCall.


	4. 4

Stiles spent the next morning trying to brace himself. He could already see in his mind the sad puppy dog eyes that would be trained on him all day and was positive that Scott would do whatever he could to get Stiles alone so that they could talk about the conversation from the night before. If that did happen Stiles was prepared to tell Scott to his face that he had no intention of being anyone other than who he’d been the past seventeen years, but he was hoping that avoidance would do the trick just as well. When he walked into his first class it became clear that all of his preparations were in vain; Scott wasn’t there.

“He could be sick,” Ellie commented at lunch. “Do werewolves get sick?”

“Not in the normal way.” Andy chewed on the straw of her juice as she thought. “I wish he had a com, it would make it so much easier to get ahold of him. If there’s anything weird going on we promised we would help him.”

“We could always go over after school and check. What do you think Stiles?” Stiles, who had just stuffed a handful of fries in his mouth, ignored Ellie as he chewed. He was pretty sure that the real reason Scott wasn’t around was because of last night. That wasn’t something that either of the girls would be thrilled to hear though. Swallowing, Stiles reached for his water bottle.

“I think you can do what you want,” he said, taking a large drink. “Let me know how it goes.” Andy narrowed her eyes at him. Stiles tried to act casually and stuffed more fries in his mouth. When his best friend got that look on her face, she often noticed things that he really wished she wouldn’t.

“You don’t know why Scott’s not here then?” She asked him. Stiles, still chewing, just shook his head. Andy stared at him a little while longer, obviously trying to see if he was holding anything back, and then seemed to give up.

“I’ll go over to Scott’s place with you,” she told Ellie. “If there’s anything up we’ll figure out what it is, and then afterwards maybe we can drag him com shopping.” Stiles snorted. Being as old as he was, Scott probably didn’t know anything about coms past what he’d picked up in the past few weeks hanging out with them. Getting him his own com at this point was probably similar to getting a dinosaur a motorcycle. He took a bite of his sandwich and then realized that both of the girls were giving him a strange look.

“What?” He got out around his mouthful.

“You tell us,” Andy said. “You had your scathing look going, the one you usually reserve for Mark when he tries to answer a question in Science.” Stiles shrugged.

“Just thinking. About… stuff.” He turned his focus towards his lunch, ignoring any other looks that his friends gave him.

After school, Stiles walked home while the girls went off to try and find Scott. He caught himself glancing around, half expecting the werewolf to be following him again. Not, he reflected, that he’d noticed Scott following him before yesterday. In his head Stiles started writing the code he’d need to add a program to his com that would let him see heat signals in his area. It might involve adding another sensor, but he was pretty sure that an older model he’d taken apart a few months ago had one that he could squeeze in somehow.

Stiles was at the kitchen table with the older com in pieces in front of him when his own rang with a call from Andy. He answered it without looking at the screen, a screwdriver sticking out of the side of his mouth as he tried to cut a wire to remove the sensor he wanted. The closest he got to a hello was a mangled kind of grunting noise.

“Hello to you too,” Andy’s voice said. “What are you working on?” Stiles snipped the wire he was focused on and grabbed the screwdriver out of his mouth so that he could talk.

“Just modifying my com a bit,” he said. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you’d heard from Scott at all,” Andy said. Stiles rolled his eyes.

“I thought we established earlier today that he has no com and, therefore, no way to get ahold of us.” He reached down and snipped another wire, causing a spark that temporarily set his sleeve on fire. Stiles yelped and beat at it until it smoldered out.

“Stiles, please stop setting yourself on fire and focus here,” Andy said. “He doesn’t have a com but I thought maybe he’d come over to your house or something.”

“Why on earth would he do that?” Stiles asked uncomfortably, glancing at the door to the back porch to make sure he wouldn’t see a werewolf sitting out there after all.

“Well he’s not at his apartment. We figured at this point that we should check all possibilities. I would think you’d be at least a little concerned about him.” Stiles was frowning at the com, trying to figure out what else he needed to do.

“If he’s in trouble, that seems like his own problem, don’t you think?”

“Stiles!” With a sigh, he turned towards the screen to see Andy looking at him in concern. “I thought you were acting weird about Scott earlier. What on earth happened?”

“I’m not acting weird, all right? I’m acting like a perfectly normal person, which I do all the time.” Andy’s eyes went down to where Stiles’ sleeve was still smoking slightly. “Normal people have accidents,” he said defensively.

“If you say so. Look, if you do hear from Scott will you let me know?”

“Sure.”

“See you tomorrow then.” Andy ended the call. Stiles turned gladly back to the work she’d interrupted.

The next day there was still no sign of Scott. Stiles, not in the mood for another conversation about where he could be, spent his lunch testing the heat sensor he’d built into his com outside. It seemed to be working the way he wanted it to, showing him areas of larger heat that were people wandering around the school. Stiles was feeling proud of himself for avoiding the topic of certain werewolves all day when Andy cornered him after school.

“Come on, I’ll drive you home,” she said. Stiles raised his eyebrows.

“Since when do you think I can’t walk?” He wanted to know. “It’s a Friday, don’t you have other things to do?”

“Nope.” She smiled at him. “Lucky you. Come on.” Stiles groaned and followed her, climbing into the car and sitting with his arms folded as she started driving away from the school.

“What’s this actually about?” He asked her as they turned the corner onto his street.

“I should be asking you that,” she replied. “Come on Stiles. I know you better than just about anyone. Do you really think I can’t tell that something’s been bothering you the past couple of days?”

“It’s nothing important.” Stiles looked out the window to avoid Andy’s eyes as she glanced over at him. “Besides, I thought you were more concerned about Scott than anything else.”

“Stiles,” she said, “I know we’ve been spending a lot of time with Scott lately, but you’re still one of my best friends. If you’re not okay then I’m not okay with that. Yes, I’m worried about Scott. He’s a good person and I want to make sure he’s not in any sort of trouble. That doesn’t mean I can’t care about you too.” He was quiet as they pulled up in front of his house. Andy turned her car off, clearly waiting for him. Stiles sighed.

“Fine. Come on in.” He got out and led the way into his house. In the kitchen he flung his bag on the floor and then got the leftover macaroni and cheese out of the fridge. Andy followed him and quietly took a chair, watching him. Stiles heated up the food and stuck a fork in it before sitting across from his friend.

“This isn’t exactly something I was planning on talking about with anyone,” he told her, twirling his fork and watching the melted cheese wind around it.

“If you can’t tell me, then who can you tell?” Andy asked reasonably. “You were the one who insisted that I talk to you after my aunt died. I didn’t want to talk to anyone about that either, but you were there for me. Let me be here for you too.” Stiles laughed a little.

“I don’t think this is exactly the same as a death in the family.”

“It’s clearly something.” Andy leaned her elbows on the table, watching him. Stiles took a bite of his macaroni and cheese and then put his fork down. He did want to tell someone, he just didn’t know where to begin.

“Scott was here a couple of nights ago,” he said abruptly. “We were talking.”

“What about?”

“About…” Stiles glanced at his com. “You remember those footprints in the woods?” Andy nodded. “Well, those were Scott. I found out that he’s been following me more than just that night. He… apparently he wanted to keep me safe, so he decided to sneak around after me.”

“Why?” Andy asked, looking puzzled. Stiles chewed at one of his thumbnails, wondering if there was an easier way to approach this subject. Deciding that there wasn’t, he plunged right in.

“Apparently he actually is over a hundred years old, and he thinks I’m the reincarnation of his best friend from back then.” Andy blinked. Clearly that wasn’t what she’d expected Stiles to say.

“He told you that?”

“I confronted him about the whole stalking thing and how old he is. I guess he decided if I’d figured out that much he might as well tell me all of it.” Stiles shrugged. “I have no idea what goes on in his head. The point is that that’s why he wanted to be friends with us – with me – so badly. He’s stuck on this friend who died.” Andy considered this, tilting her head to one side.

“Do you think he’s right?”

“Right?” Stiles stared at his friend. “Does it matter?”

“I’d think it would matter a little. If he is right, then it does change some things, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t see why it should,” Stiles muttered. “I’m me, Andy. I’m not going to become some other person just because Scott thinks I should.” Andy watched him for a while.

“You think there’s at least a possibility though,” she said softly. “Otherwise I don’t think this would be bothering you so much. You’d just brush it off as a joke or something.” Stiles winced.

“It’s more than just a possibility,” he admitted. Reaching over to grab his com he flicked the screen up and brought up the picture of Scott and the other Stiles in their lacrosse uniforms. Andy’s breath hissed through her teeth in surprise.

“That’s…”

“Yeah.” Stiles rested his head on his hands. “I found this after we talked.” Andy looked from the picture to her friend and back again, an odd look on her face.

“I can’t believe how similar you actually look,” she said. “It’s even down to the freckles.”

“I noticed,” Stiles said dryly.

“So he was right.” Andy looked at Stiles. “Is that why you’ve been acting so weird?”

“Wouldn’t you?” Stiles looked at the picture. “Scott can’t expect me to be this person. I don’t remember anything about ever having been him. I don’t want him to constantly be trying to get back the person he lost when I’m someone different.” Andy shook her head.

“No one who’s really your friend would want you to be someone you’re not, Stiles.”

“Then maybe Scott’s not my friend.”

“Maybe you should let me finish.” Andy raised her eyebrows. “Stiles, even if you are a reincarnation of someone from a long time ago you’re still the same person. Knowing that about yourself doesn’t change anything really. Scott wanted to be your friend because of this originally, but he’s spent enough time with you to know you now too. I think he’d honestly like to be your friend whether you remember this-” she waved a hand at the picture “-or not.”

“That doesn’t mean he has to stalk me,” Stiles muttered.

“Okay, maybe that was kind of creepy,” Andy admitted. “So what are you going to do about it? The way I see it, you can sit around and sulk about all this or you can move forward with your life. And before you say anything, moving forward does not have to mean that you cut Scott out entirely. I thought you were starting to get along.”

“I thought we were too.” Stiles looked at Andy. “You’re not just being my friend because I’m some reincarnation, right?”

“Not just because of that,” Andy said dryly. Stiles glared at his friend. She just laughed. Her com started ringing and Andy glanced at it. “Ellie.”

“This had better not be like the last time we were hanging out and she tried to get ahold of you.” Andy answered and Ellie’s face appeared on the screen.

“Andy! Where are you right now?”

“I’m with Stiles.”

“Are you busy?”

“Not precisely.” Andy glanced over at Stiles, who shrugged. “Why, what’s up?”

“I found Scott. He says he needs help with something.”

“Like what?”

“He says he wants to tell all of us at once. Where are you two? Can we meet you there?” Andy looked at Stiles again, asking without saying anything if she should say yes. Stiles hesitated. He didn’t want Scott coming back over here. He couldn’t help the feeling of curiosity that was building inside him though, and Andy was right. He couldn’t spend all his time sulking about this.

“Fine,” he said. Andy beamed.

“We’re at Stiles’ house,” she told Ellie. “Need me to come and get you?”

“Nope, I have my car. See you soon!”

When the doorbell rang, it was Andy who let Ellie and Scott into the house. Stiles was sitting at the kitchen table when the other three entered the room. His fingers were tapping out a rhythm on the table. He tried not to let himself look curious about what was going on as Ellie said hello. Scott sat across from Stiles, watching him out of the corner of his eyes and trying to look like he wasn’t.

“All right,” Andy said when she sat down next to Stiles. “What’s up Scott? Where have you been?”

“It’s kind of complicated.” Scott looked uncomfortable. “I guess I have to start by admitting that there’s something I didn’t tell you before. Stiles knows this already, but I don’t know if he told you. I’m… a lot older than I look.”

“Older?” Ellie asked. “By how much?”

“About a hundred years,” Scott admitted. Ellie gasped. “I know, it’s a lot. There’s a story behind it, trust me, but that’s not really relevant right now. The thing is that when I was first bitten, when I was originally in high school, there were other werewolves that I met. Some of them ended up becoming my friends, and one in particular taught me a lot. He was kind of like a mentor.” Scott smiled. “Well, I didn’t see him like that for a while, but eventually he was. His name was Derek.”

“Is he a hundred years old too?” Ellie asked.

“No,” Scott said. “Or, well, I don’t know. The thing is that Derek vanished a while after…” His eyes flickered up to Stiles for a moment. “Well, after an incident. I never was able to figure out where he went. I assumed he must have died. I assumed that until two days ago at least.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, which he laid on the table. “That’s when I got this. It’s a letter from Derek.”

“May I?” Andy asked, pointing to it. Scott nodded. Andy reached out and took the paper, unfolding it. Stiles peered over her shoulder.

_Scott,_

_I’ve got a lead on what I’ve been working on. There’s no time to waste on it so I’m going to head straight out. If anything happens, find Malia and get her to let you into the vault. You should be able to figure out what to do from there._

_Derek_

“Who’s Malia?” Stiles asked. “And what was he working on?” Andy silently passed the letter over to Ellie to read.

“Malia was another friend,” Scott said. “As for what Derek was working on, there’s not much I can say. He was pretty private about it. I know he was looking for something when he vanished, but that’s all.”

“What about the vault that’s mentioned in here?” Ellie asked, tapping the paper as she laid it back on the table.

“The Hale Vault. It’s actually underneath the school.” Stiles heard Andy fighting to suppress laughter next to him. He suddenly recalled their conversation weeks ago about a secret room under the school. He decided not to acknowledge it.

“So you got this two days ago,” Ellie said. “Did you go look in the vault?”

“That’s the thing. The vault can only be opened by someone from the Hale family. That’s why I would have needed Malia. I’ve been trying everything I can think of to get the vault to let me in in the past couple of days, but I haven’t had any success.” Scott looked at Stiles. “That’s what I need help with. I really need to get into that vault and find out what Derek left in there, but I’m out of ideas. I thought that if anyone could figure out how to get in, it’s you.”

“Me?” Stiles asked incredulously. “What do you think I could possibly know about this that you don’t already?”

“You’re one of the smartest people I know,” Scott said. “You figured out about the immortality thing before I had even considered telling you about it. You’re good with technology and puzzles and thinking your way out of a situation. Please, Stiles. I wouldn’t ask if I thought I could do it without you.” Stiles shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Scott’s face was full of an earnest trust that Stiles didn’t think he’d done anything to earn. He didn’t know anything about weird werewolf vaults underneath the school. His imagination was already on fire with things that could possibly be in there though. Stiles sighed.

“Fine. I’ll help.” Scott’s face instantly lit up with a broad smile.

“Really?”

“Not if you keep grinning at me like that.” Stiles snatched the letter from in front of Ellie. “Here’s my question though. If this Derek vanished so long ago, why did you get this letter two days ago? Someone had to send it to you.”

“Maybe he’s still around to send it?” Ellie said doubtfully.

“Then why wouldn’t he just show up in person to talk to Scott?” Stiles shook his head. “We need to consider that this might not actually be from Derek and might be some kind of trick.”

“Unfortunately that makes a lot of sense.” Andy took the letter from Stiles again. “What about this Malia? You said she’d have been able to let you into the vault, so she’s obviously related. What happened to her?”

“She left quite a while before Derek did. I don’t know where she went.” Scott looked at Stiles. “That’s why I was wondering about that bracelet you found in the woods. It looks a lot like one that Malia used to have. Her boyfriend gave it to her.”

“Why would that be in the forest?” Andy asked.

“It almost,” Stiles said, “Seems like someone is purposefully putting these things from the past – the letter and the bracelet – where we’ll find them.”

“Who though?” Ellie wanted to know. “Scott, are there other werewolves who are immortal like you?”

“Not that I know of.” Scott’s forehead wrinkled as he thought. “I can’t imagine who would want us to have those things though.”

“And why would they want Stiles to have the bracelet?” Ellie continued. “It’s not like he’s a hundred years old.” Scott flinched. Stiles looked away. Ellie looked back and forth between the two of them. “Stiles, you’re not a hundred years old, right?”

“Stiles is just as old as I am,” Andy said dryly. “Unless you count the fact that he was born a week earlier.”

“Let me go grab that bracelet,” Stiles said loudly, standing up and walking quickly out of the room. He shuffled things around on his desk until he spotted the silver chain and brought it back downstairs, putting it on the table next to the letter.

“This definitely looks like the same one Malia had.” Scott picked it up and turned it over in his fingers, looking closely at the coyote charm.

“Why a coyote?” Stiles asked.

“She was a werecoyote,” Scott said absently.

“Fantastic.” Stiles frowned, thinking. “Okay. I’m thinking that the first thing we need to do is go look at the door to this vault. Can we do that?”

“It should be dark enough outside.” Scott glanced out the window. “It’s under the school, so it’s best to head there when no one else will be around.”

“Cool. Let’s go.” Andy stood up. “I can drive.” The four walked out and all piled into the car. Stiles made sure he ended up shotgun so that he didn’t have to sit next to Scott. He still had mixed feelings about the werewolf. The short distance to the school seemed to flash by, and soon enough they were all standing outside Andy’s car looking at the building.

“So do we need to get inside the school, or can we get in from outside?” Stiles asked.

“It used to be accessible from outside, but now the only entrance left is in the basement,” Scott said. “We’ll have to get in through a window or something.”

“What about security cameras?” Ellie asked. “I don’t want to get into trouble for this.”

“Oh, I can deal with those.” Stiles hopped out of the car and walked towards the school, tapping his com. It started giving off a white light and Scott, who came up next to him, suddenly winced.

“What is that sound?”

“What sound?” Andy asked.

“I’m disrupting the cameras temporarily,” Stiles said.

“I don’t hear anything either,” Ellie said.

“It’s high pitched enough that humans won’t hear it. Dogs might.” Stiles smirked as he saw Scott glare at him. “Come on, if we’re going we should go.” Scott sighed and walked up to one of the windows. He tugged and it flew open, seemingly without any effort.

“Shouldn’t that have been locked?” Ellie asked as they climbed through.

“The perks of spending time with a werewolf,” Andy said. “Which way Scott?” He pointed and lead them downstairs. At one point they stopped in front of what seemed like a blank wall.

“They put this up a few decades ago,” Scott said. “Luckily I got some help to put a new way in.” He reached out and touched a slightly darker spot on the wall. It slid in and the wall pulled itself aside to reveal a dark, narrow hallway. Scott led the way through, stopping in front of a large stone door. The other three filed in and stood next to him. Stiles whistled.

“This is impressive.” He reached out and touched the door, tracing the carvings on it. His fingers got caught on various places where the rock had chipped over time. “How come no one’s ever found this?”

“The Hale family was pretty protective of their secrets,” Scott said. “I’ve been looking after it for them since.”

“So how is it supposed to open?” Ellie asked. Scott pointed to a metal grate.

“A Hale is supposed to put their claws in that and twist it. It won’t open for anyone else. Believe me, I’ve tried over the past two days.”

“Huh.” Stiles reached out and tugged on the grate experimentally. Nothing happened. “So there’s no one from the Hale family still in the area?”

“No. The ones I knew are all gone.” Scott sighed and pulled the bracelet out of his pocket. Stiles stared at it. He hadn’t realized Scott still had it.

“Let me look at that for a minute.” He took the bracelet and held it up, squinting at the door through the circle of metal.

“Stiles?” Andy said.

“Shhhhh.” Stiles walked up to the door and touched a hole he’d noticed in the door earlier. It was in the very center. With a frown, he compared the size of the hole to the charm on the bracelet. Then he reached out and fitted the little metal coyote into the hole. It clicked in.

“Scott! Try the grate now.” Scott looked startled but obligingly reached up with his claws and grabbed the grate. It twisted under his hands and the door slowly, grindingly, opened.

“No way,” Andy breathed out. She walked past as Stiles retrieved the bracelet. Ellie followed her in. Scott was looking at Stiles.

“How did you know that would work?”

“I didn’t.” Stiles shrugged. “It was worth a try though, wasn’t it?” Scott laughed.

“I guess it was.” He hesitated, a hand on the back of his neck. “Look, Stiles. About the other day…”

“Guys!” Andy yelled from inside. “You have to come see this.” Scott looked towards the door and then back towards Stiles, uncertainty written all over his face. Stiles wasn’t uncertain at all. This was not a conversation he felt like having. Instead, Stiles turned towards the door and walked in. He could hear Scott follow him in. As soon as he entered the vault and saw what the girls were looking at Stiles stopped in his tracks. Scott swore softly.

“What on earth…” Stiles breathed. The room was covered in dust, but there were shelves of objects in the room. They ranged from jars of substances he couldn’t identify to books to things that looked like weapons. There was a podium with a large journal like book laid out on it. Everything was bathed in a light blue light. It was the source of that light that both girls were looking at and that Scott now slowly walked towards. There was a silver pedestal sitting in the middle of the room. Extending up from it was a pillar of blue light. It was what was suspended in that pillar that Scott couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of.

“Derek,” he whispered. The man hanging there was, Stiles would guess, in his late twenties or early thirties. He had a closely trimmed beard and black hair. His eyes were closed. He was wearing a white shirt, black jacket, and jeans that had all seen better days. They had tears and what looked like blood stains on them.

“What is this?” Andy asked, walking around it.

“I don’t know.” Scott shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“It looks like some kind of stasis device,” Ellie said. “Like he was frozen in it somehow. I don’t see how it works though.”

“It looks like he got hurt somehow.” Andy pointed to the blood stains on his jeans. “Maybe he got attacked by something and that’s how he ended up like this?”

“I don’t know,” Scott repeated. He rubbed his forehead. “I guess I’m going to have to do some research on this. Whatever I expected to find here, this definitely wasn’t it.”

“How do you do research on something like this?” Stiles asked. He was over his initial shock at the stasis beam and was back to looking at some of the other objects in the room with interest. There was a wooden urn on the shelf nearest him that he was tempted to look in.

“I have some specialized resources.” Scott tore his eyes away from the werewolf in the blue light and looked around the vault. “I guess now that I know I can come in here, I can use some of these too. Hey! Don’t touch that!” Stiles looked back, his hand hovering near the wooden urn.

“What?”

“Just… there’s a lot of stuff down here that could be dangerous,” Scott said. “I never got a chance to look at it all myself. It’s better not to randomly start grabbing things, okay?”

“If you say so.” Stiles privately resolved that he was going to find a way back into the vault when Scott wasn’t around. He was the one who figured out how to open the door, so he should also be able to look around all he wanted.

“So what should we do about…” Andy waved her hand to indicate the man in stasis.

“I guess we’ll leave him for now.” Scott didn’t look happy about this. “There’s nothing that we can do tonight anyway.”

“If you’re sure.” Andy looked around the room, her eyes lingering on the open book on the podium that Stiles had noticed earlier.

“Sorry we couldn’t help more,” Ellie said quietly.

“No way!” Scott looked at her in surprise. “I wasn’t able to get that door open for days, remember? You were a huge help.” He glanced at Stiles.

“I guess I’ll drive us all back then?” Andy said, tearing her eyes away from the book. “Ellie, you left your car at Stiles’ house, right?” She nodded.

“I don’t need a ride,” Scott said. “I’ll just head back to my apartment.” The four walked out of the vault. As the door shut behind them and they parted ways, Stiles felt the bracelet in his pocket. Even if he needed a werewolf to get back in there, Scott would need that coyote charm. The alpha wasn’t going to go back in there unless Stiles got to go back in too.

Stiles woke up the next morning to discover that he’d fallen asleep by his desk while reading up on forms of stasis. He unstuck his cheek from the wood, making a face. His mouth was papery dry. Walking downstairs, he put a pot of coffee on and sipped some water while waiting for it to brew. He wandered into the living room and flicked on the television screen. The news was on. Stiles was just about to change the channel when his eyes focused on the picture they were showing. It looked like an area a little ways outside of Beacon Hills that he was familiar with. There was an abandoned barn out there that he used to explore with Andy. Though based on what he was looking at, maybe it was better to say that there had been a barn out there.

“Police are investigating the damage,” the female reporter was saying. “There is no indication at this time of what could have caused the barn and the surrounding area to be so thoroughly destroyed, though some experts are predicting that some kind of explosive was used.” Stiles blinked at the pictures of the smashed boards and ripped up trees in disbelief. That didn’t look like any kind of explosive he’d ever heard of. The news story switched to something about some fourth graders who had gotten their art project into a national competition. Stiles switched the screen off and went to get his coffee. He sat down with the mug in one hand and used his com to search for more information on the barn.

As Stiles read, his mind was whirring. Apparently there had been large crashing sounds that had brought people out to see what was happening at around two in the morning. There were several large crater like impressions near the site. Looking at the pictures from a helicopter, Stiles noticed that the six craters seemed to be in two lines of three each.

“Almost like footprints,” he said out loud. He took a deep drink of his coffee, trying to calm down his whirring thoughts. He looked at the clock. It was nine. Ellie might be awake, though it was doubtful that Andy would be. He shot Ellie a message and then got up from his chair. A few minutes later, he was dressed and on the move.

When Stiles arrived at the scene, there was police tape all around it. There were a few other people standing around muttering about what had happened. Stiles avoided them as he slowly walked around and looked at what he could see of the damage. He noted that not all the trees had been pulled up like he’d thought. Some of them looked more like they’d been crushed flat. A few of those were in the large round craters. Stiles chewed on his lip, thinking. If those were footprints, they were from something very, very large.

“Stiles!” He turned to see Ellie walking towards him. She walked up to the police tape, her eyes wide. “What happened?”

“They don’t know,” he said, following her gaze to one of the trees that had been ripped up, roots and all. “I have a feeling it’s not something they’re going to be able to figure out though.” She looked at him sharply.

“You think it’s something Scott might be involved in?”

“Something like that.” He pointed to one of the craters. “From the air, these look like something walked through here last night with destruction in mind.”

“Something walked.” Ellie’s eyes widened. “Someone would have noticed something that big.”

“Apparently they didn’t.” Stiles shrugged. “I’m not the one who knows about this stuff, but I just have this feeling. This doesn’t look like any kind of explosion to me.”

“You’re right about that.” Ellie tapped her lips with one finger. “I wish we could get a closer look.” Sties glanced around and then grinned.

“Maybe we can.” He led the way around the police tape until they were hidden by some trees. Then he climbed one of the trees into the lower branches.

“What are you doing?” Ellie hissed.

“Just making sure.” Stiles looked around at the police he could see. “Yeah, they’re all over in that area. If we poke under from here we should be able to look around a bit before we get caught.”

“Stiles!” Ellie glared at him as he dropped down from his branch. “I don’t want to get caught. Getting arrested is not high on my list of priorities.”

“It’ll be fine!” Stiles slid under the police tape and tried to stay behind the trees that were on the other side of it. With a muffled sound of exasperation, Ellie followed him. The two edged around the side of the area opposite the police, looking at the edge of one of the craters. Stiles came out from behind the trees and crouched next to it. He noticed that the earth on the inside was compressed, just like if it had been pressed down from above. Then his eyes caught on something lying next to the crater. Reaching out, Stiles picked up something that looked like a clump of dull brown hair.

“What the…”

“Stiles!” Ellie hissed from behind him. “What are you doing?”

“Just a second!” He edged forward a ways more and saw that there was more of the hair lying not that far away. There was also a dark splatter on the ground. Leaning down, Stiles gagged when he realized it was blood.

“Hey! You!” Stiles’ head snapped up to see a police officer starting towards him.

“Shit.” Stiles stood and ran back towards where Ellie had already started her own retreat. He jumped over the police tape and followed his friend through the trees, hearing crashing as the police followed them. He was trying to decide what excuse could get them out of being arrested when Ellie squeaked and then vanished. A second later Stiles felt someone grab him by the arm and haul him upwards. He found himself on a thick tree branch next to Scott and Ellie, watching the police thunder by underneath them.

“Thanks,” Stiles said absently, his heart still pounding heavily.

“I’d ask what on earth you were doing, but I’m not sure I want to know.” Scott looked at Ellie, who was massaging her shoulder. “Are you okay? Sorry if I pulled too hard.”

“I’m okay,” she said. “Stiles what on earth were you looking at back there?”

“I’m not sure.” Stiles held out his hand, only now realizing that he was still gripping the matted brown hair. “There was a lot of this hair lying around. I think we were right about it not being explosives, Ellie. Those craters look like someone pressed down from above.”

“Like footprints,” she said with resignation. “Why can’t anything be easy lately?”

“Let me know if you figure that one out.” Stiles looked at Scott. “What were you doing out here?” He asked, suddenly suspicious.

“I was coming to look at the damage, same as you,” Scott said. “So you can stop looking at me like that.”

“Then it is something supernatural?” Ellie asked. Scott looked back towards the taped off scene.

“It’s likely. I’ve been picking up an odd scent around town, so if it is it’s not something I’ve ever run into before. We’ll have to be careful.”

“Fantastic.” Ellie sighed and closed her eyes. “Can we start by getting out of here before someone finds us and tries to arrest us again?”

They ended up at Scott’s apartment. Ellie had called Andy, who was on her way. Stiles was pacing the living room, thinking hard. The hair had been put on a table in the middle of the room. Scott was sitting on the couch with his hands folded in his lap, also clearly thinking. Ellie had retreated to the bathroom to clean herself up.

“So you’ve really never heard of something like this before,” Stiles said.

“How many times are you going to ask me that, exactly?” Scott wanted to know. “This is all new to me. Usually you would… other people would be the ones doing the research.”

“Great.” Stiles flung himself into a chair, glaring at the clump of hair. Scott shook his head.

“I can at least tell you that that came from… whatever it is,” he said. “It’s got the same scent around it.”

‘“You sniffed it?” Stiles asked.

“I didn’t put it up to my nose, if that’s what you’re asking,” Scott said. “But I didn’t need to. It’s pretty strong.” Stiles chose not to respond to that.

“So it’s got hair,” he said. “That narrows it down to… probably not a lizard monster. Not so helpful.”

“We know it’s got to be pretty big too,” Ellie said as she came back into the room. “If those really were footprints they weren’t made by a fairy.” The doorbell rang and she turned to open it. Andy came in.

“Next time you decide to try to get yourself arrested,” she told Stiles, “Try to let me know first, okay?”

“Here I thought I was being all nice by letting you sleep in,” he responded. “Any ideas about that?” he waved a hand towards the clump of hair. Andy looked at it and wrinkled her nose.

“Why did you even bring that back with you?” she asked.

“It was in my hand when we were running away,” Stiles said with a shrug. Andy rolled her eyes and leaned in for a better look. She frowned.

“Well, it definitely looks like hair instead of fur,” she said. “It’s pretty thick too. The actual hairs, I mean.”

“So are we dealing with some kind of a giant then?” Ellie asked, looking nervous. “Where would something that size hide though?”

“Hard to say.” Scott shrugged. “There’s a lot of out of the way places on the outskirts of town and in the reserve. It could be anywhere.”

“If it’s actually a giant.” Stiles ran a hand through his hair. “We just don’t have enough information right now. What we really need is someone who’s seen the thing.”

“There weren’t any witnesses to whatever happened last night. I was listening to the radio on my way over.” Andy sat down next to Scott. Stiles tapped his fingers on his knees in a restless rhythm.

“Then maybe,” he said after a moment, “we need to go find it instead.” Ellie looked at him incredulously.

“You want us to go looking for whatever made that big of a mess with full sized trees?”

“Think about it,” Stiles said, getting up to pace again. “If any one of us gets a visual on it, or even better a picture, then we’ll know exactly what we’re dealing with. Then we’ll be able to figure out whatever we need to do to get rid of it. It’s a lot better than going in blind, right?”

“What if it attacks us when we find it?” Ellie asked. “Aside from Scott, we’re just human. We’re not going to be able to do a lot.”

“I hate to say it, but I think Stiles is right.” Andy looked at Ellie apologetically. “Nobody is going to be able to effectively take care of this thing if we don’t know what it is, and we won’t know what it is until we see it.”

“Ellie’s also right,” Scott pointed out. “It could be dangerous.”

“Look, if this thing is as big as we think it is, I think we’ll be able to see it from quite a distance,” Stiles said. “It’s not like we’re going to walk up and tap it on the shoulder, or the ankle or whatever, and say hi.”

“We can split into groups of two,” Andy said. “That way no one’s going to get in trouble all on their own even if something does happen.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the knives she’d brought when they rescued Ellie. “I figure Ellie can go with Scott and Stiles can go with me. If we get into any trouble I can hopefully use these to at least buy us a little time.”

“I still don’t like it,” Scott said.

“I like not dying as much as anyone,” Stiles said. “It’ll be fine.” Ellie sighed with resignation.

“Well if we’re going to do this, it makes most sense to wait until its dark outside,” she pointed out. “The damage was done last night and if whatever it is was out during the daylight, I think we’d hear something about it on the news.”

“We can meet at around seven?” Andy looked around. When no one disagreed she nodded decisively. “Back here is probably the best spot if that’s okay with you Scott.” He gave a short nod. “All right then. Stiles, do you want a ride back to your place?”

“Sure. I’ll see if I can do some other research.”

“I’ll head home for now too. My parents are home this weekend, they’ll wonder where I am if I don’t put in an appearance. We’ll see you tonight Scott.” The three walked to the front door of the apartment. A glance back from Stiles showed Scott looking after him, his eyes worried. It felt as though those eyes were following him all the way out to Andy’s car.

That night, Stiles walked over to Scott’s place. He looked for Ellie or Andy’s cars outside. Seeing neither, he figured he was probably the first one to arrive. He stood outside Scott’s apartment door, trying to decide whether he should knock or not. They hadn’t been alone since their talk on Stiles’ back porch. He wasn’t sure what he’d say to the werewolf at this point. Before he could decide whether to knock or not, the door opened anyway.

“I heard you walking up,” Scott said apologetically.

“Oh.” Stiles glanced back to see if the girls had arrived yet before squaring his shoulders and walking into the apartment. He followed Scott into the living room. They both sat in silence for a while. Stiles was wondering if he should call Andy as an excuse to get away from the tension when Scott spoke up.

“Did you find anything in your research?”

“Huh?” Stiles blinked in surprise. “Oh. Sort of. I mean, it’s not like there’s much more we can know without more evidence. I did some general reading up on giants just in case. Are giants a thing?”

“I’ve never seen one but that doesn’t mean much.”

“Oh. Well, after tonight that might change.” Stiles tried for a grin but it faltered when he saw the way Scott was looking at him. The alpha’s gaze was intense, like if he looked away Stiles would vanish into thin air. Stiles had the feeling that if he could get away with it, Scott would tie him to the chair to prevent him from going looking for the monster. “Look, Scott,” he began uncertainly. He was interrupted by the door bursting open. He and Scott both stood, the werewolf’s eyes flashing a bright red as they looked towards the door. Andy and Ellie stumbled through it and slammed it behind them. Both girls were pale, with wide eyes.

“What happened to you two?” Stiles demanded.

“Remember how you wanted someone to see the monster?” Andy said faintly. “Well, we found it.”

“What?” Stiles stepped forward and supported the shaking Ellie into the living room, helping her sit on the couch.

“I picked Ellie up,” Andy said, sitting in a chair. “We decided to drive past the smashed barn before we came here, just to make sure that there weren’t still any police there. If there had been we’d have needed to plan for it. We were almost there when there was this big… crashing sound.” She shuddered.

“It didn’t see you?” Scott said at the same time as Stiles said “What was it?” In response, Andy pressed a few buttons on her com. A picture hovered above it on the holo-screen. Stiles leaned closer, squinting at it. It showed a large dark shape, almost like a human. He had to stop at almost because if he had to pick one word to describe it, it would have been “lumpy”. The figure looked like it had been sculpted by a toddler, its arms different lengths, its muscles uneven and bulging under skin that looked to be a purplish gray. In one hand it had an object that looked like a club. Its head was covered in thick, matted hair. Stiles couldn’t make out the color but he guessed it was the same hair he had found by the barn. The face was what he ended up staring at though. It was sunk into an abnormally large head. The cheeks bulged. The forehead was bulbous and looked as though it had a dent in it. Underneath the forehead were small black eyes that reminded Stiles of beetles. Thick, sharp looking teeth hung out of the massive lips.

“That’s disgusting,” he said without thinking.

“It was,” Ellie said in a small voice. “And it was huge.”

“There’s no need to wonder how it broke the barn,” Andy said. “It could easily have just stepped on it.”

“That’s not a giant though,” Scott said. “Not like any giant I’ve heard of anyway. I thought they were just supposed to look like normal humans.”

“Hang on.” Stiles pulled out his own com, quickly flicking through his research. “I think I read about something like this. The abnormally colored skin, the ugly, the giant…” he paused. “Ogre,” he said flatly.

“Ogre?” Scott asked.

“I think so,” Stiles said. “It seems to match up. They’re usually really large like that and strong. Even if they’re all lumpy and weird you can tell this thing’s got muscles. They usually eat humans in all of the myths about them. “

“That’s comforting,” Andy said dryly.

“You say it was near the spot where the barn was?” Scott asked Andy. She nodded.

“It must move pretty fast though, being that large.”

“Doesn’t matter. If it was there, I should be able to track it to wherever it is now. I spent enough time with that hair in the apartment to get used to the scent. I’ll know it when I smell it again.”

“Wait, you’re going after it? Just like that?” Stiles asked. “Scott, these things are stupidly strong and stupidly stupid. You’re not exactly going to be able to reason with it.”

“I can’t just let it wander around unchecked, especially if it’s going to try to eat people!”

“I don’t think one werewolf is going to be able to take it down!” Stiles argued. “Immortal or not, you’re going to need help!”

“This is what I do!”

“Than what you do is stupid!”

“Scott, Stiles is right,” Andy said. “Even if you can’t get hurt that easily, what if you can’t stop it? You’ll just wear yourself out fighting it.”

“There’s no other choices,” Scott said flatly.

“Then I’ll go with you,” Andy said, standing up. “I’m not letting you-”

“Andy, you can’t take on that thing either! You saw how big it was!” Ellie protested.

“Well someone has to-”

“You don’t know if you can even find it-”

“No time to try and-”

“Enough!” Scott roared. Stiles jumped back away from the werewolf without even thinking about it. The alpha’s eyes faded back to brown from red as he took a few deep breaths. Andy and Ellie were both staring at him with wide eyes.

“All right,” Scott said quietly. “Look at this logically. I told you already, this thing can’t kill me. Believe me, there have been a lot of different monsters that have tried. Ogre will be just one more to add to the list. Even if it does hurt me, I’ll heal. It only takes an hour at most to heal from the worst injuries, and less serious ones take even less time.”

“If we’re looking at it logically, then you really shouldn’t go alone,” Andy said. “What if you get into some kind of trouble and you can’t call for help? You said before that you’d let us help.”

“Help doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you put yourself in harm’s way.” Scott looked around the room. “I’m going to go now before this thing does any more damage. If I can stop it tonight, then I should stop it tonight.” He looked at Stiles. “And I want you to promise me that you’re not going to try and do anything on your own.”

“What makes you think I’m going to promise anything of the sort?” Stiles demanded, crossing his arms. “If you haven’t noticed, I don’t exactly take orders from you.”

“It’s not an order!” Scott snapped. “Stiles, if you don’t want me to get in any trouble fighting this thing then you’ll promise. I can’t be worrying about you while I’m trying to take care of this, all right? You need to stay where you’re going to be safe this time.” Stiles glared. He didn’t want to promise anything. On the other hand, if Scott was only focused on getting Stiles to promise…

“Fine,” he said shortly. Scott immediately seemed to relax, tension easing out of his shoulders.

“Good,” he said. “Thank you.” He looked at the girls. “I’ll be back by morning. You’re welcome to stay here if you want. It’s as safe as anywhere.” With that, he turned and walked out the door.

“Stiles! Why did you go and promise him we wouldn’t help?” Andy demanded.

“I didn’t,” he said. “I promised I wouldn’t.” He raised his eyebrows at his friend. “So if you want to go, you’d better hurry.” Andy opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again.

“You can’t be serious!” Ellie said. “Andy, you could get seriously hurt!”

“So could lots of other people if we don’t do anything,” Andy said. “Thanks Stiles.” She turned and headed out the door as well. Ellie stood as if to go after her but was stopped by Stiles’ hand on her shoulder.

“You’re just going to let her go out there to maybe get killed?” Ellie demanded.

“No I’m not,” Stiles said. “I have an idea, but I’m going to need your help.”

Stiles reflected as he parked his mom’s car in front of Ellie’s house that he was probably in for the grounding of a lifetime when this was over. His house had been closer to Scott’s apartment than Ellie’s. Andy had taken her car and they needed transportation for what he had in mind. It was a good thing his mom hadn’t woken up when he’d taken her keys from her bedside table.

“I’ll be right back.” Ellie hopped out of the car and ran into her house. Stiles drummed his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel until she reappeared and climbed back into the passenger seat. She held out her hand. In it were five pointed pieces of metal.

“Why does your mom even have those?” Stiles asked, pulling out of his parking spot and speeding towards the school.

“They’re rings,” Ellie said. “She got them in Europe last time she was there at some kind of a fashion thing. They seem to be about the right shape to stand in for claws.”

“How are those fashion?”

“Stiles, have you seen the things that they wear in fashion shows these days? Beacon Hills is probably the only place on the planet where people aren’t wearing the latest trends, and believe me, we should be grateful for that.”

“Yeah okay, but claws?”

“Are you really complaining about the one thing that might help us get out of this mess?”

“Fine, fine.” Stiles parked the car across three different spaces in the parking lot at the school and jumped out. He made sure his program to keep them off the security cameras was running as they came up to a window.

“How are we supposed to open this without Scott again?” Ellie wanted to know. Stiles reached out and tried to pull it up. The window stayed firmly shut.

“Okay, okay, so I can’t break through a lock with brute strength,” he muttered. “Plan B.” He looked around and then grabbed a rock off the ground, throwing it through the window with a crash. An alarm went off somewhere in the distance.

“Stiles!” Ellie yelled. “Are you insane?”

“Only sometimes!” He reached through the broken glass and unlocked the window. “Now are you coming or what?”

“Of all the stupid, poorly planned, idiotic…” Ellie muttered as she climbed through the window after him, trying to avoid the broken glass. They ran through the hallway until they got to the wall with the secret door. Stiles slammed his hand on the spot to open it, hearing footsteps pounding above them that must belong to either the police or a security guard. He and Ellie slipped through and closed the wall behind them. Stiles reached into his pocket and pulled out the coyote bracelet. Stepping forward, he clicked the bracelet into its spot in the door. He looked up at the grate and then at Ellie. She had the makeshift claws on and was pale with fright.

“Do you think this is going to work?” She asked shakily. “If we can’t do this, Andy…”

“Only one way to find out,” Stiles said. Ellie took a deep breath and nodded. She reached up and hooked the metal points into the grate, pulling. For a moment it seemed like nothing was happening. Stiles held his breath, hoping. Then the grate creaked and twisted, opening the door. Stiles grabbed it and pushed it as far open as he could before snatching the bracelet out. Both of them practically ran into the vault. Stiles shut the door behind them and slid the bracelet into his pocket, looking around. Everything was as they’d left it before, their footprints still in the dust. The beam of blue light was still there too with the werewolf suspended in it. Stiles blew his breath out between his teeth.

“Now how do we get you out?” He muttered. Ellie walked around the light, examining it and the silver base it was extending upwards from.

“It’s not like anything I’ve seen before,” she said. “I mean, I’ve seen stasis for food before, but nothing like this. Those are small and you just don’t see them that often. This is huge, and it doesn’t appear to have an exterior power source, so it must be using something interior. Can we just shut it off?”

“I don’t know.” Stiles knelt down, squinting at some carvings on the silver base. “I guess so? It’s always possible that that would hurt him somehow though. That also assumes that we can even find an off switch.” He chewed on a thumbnail, trying to focus. His mind was full of the image of Andy and Scott trying to take on that ogre. Andy wasn’t immortal like Scott was, anything could happen to her! Stiles shook his head and closed his eyes. He needed to calm down. This was the only way he could help them right now. Looking back at the carvings, Stiles frowned and tilted his head to one side.

“Does this look like writing to you?” Ellie came over to kneel next to him, peering at the carvings.

“They look kind of like runes, but that doesn’t seem right either.” Pursing her lips, Ellie got her com out and pulled up the screen. She flicked through several pages of different alphabets before stopping and pointing at what looked like a picture of the same symbols. “Ogham writing. It was used by the druids of ancient Celtic cultures mostly.”

“Okay, great. We know what the alphabet is. What does it mean though?” Ellie looked back and forth from her screen to the carvings, her lips moving silently. Stiles tried not to scream with impatience.

“I think,” she said at last, “That this is giving us instructions on how to release him.” She pointed to some of the carvings. “This part, if I’m translating right.”

“So what do we do?”

“There’s a phrase of release,” Ellie said. “I think I have it.” She looked over at her friend. “Stiles… are we sure this is the right thing to do? We don’t know anything about him.”

“If the last month or so has taught me anything, it’s that I don’t know much about anything anymore,” Stiles said dryly. “Look, I don’t know if this is the right thing to do or not. We can’t just leave Andy and Scott to face that ogre all on their own though. It doesn’t matter how many weapons she has or how strong of a werewolf he is. They’re going to need some kind of help.” He cracked a smile. “Besides, I’ve already stolen my mom’s car and broken about a hundred rules to get this far. We might as well see it through, right?” Ellie laughed.

“I guess.” She reached out and took his hand as they both stood and stepped back. Stiles reflected that if his heart hadn’t already been attempting to pound its way out of his chest with nerves, he would really be enjoying that. Ellie took a deep breath.

“Scaoileadh saor!” The words echoed oddly around the stone walls. Stiles felt as though a wind was whipping through the room, spiraling in to center on the pillar of blue light. Ellie made a muffled squeaking noise and took a step back, still holding Stiles’ hand. The wind was whipping up dust now, creating a small whirlwind around the man. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Ellie and Stiles stared as the blue light vanished and the man fell to the floor on his hands and knees, coughing. Stiles made sure that Ellie was behind him. If this went wrong he wasn’t going to have her getting hurt. After what seemed like an eternity the man looked up. His voice was raspy and sounded confused when he spoke.

“Stiles? I thought you were dead.”

“What?” Ellie whispered. Stiles ignored her.

“I think you’ve been in here longer than you think,” he said. “I’ll explain later, but Scott’s in trouble.”

“Scott?” The man – Derek – looked around. “He was supposed to be the one to let me out-”

“Look, we don’t have time for this, all right?” Stiles snapped. “There’s an ogre out there, and Scott’s trying to take it on all by himself, and he said you were someone he used to trust, so either you can help him or you can’t. Which is it?” Derek looked startled. Stiles was breathing heavily. He was still scared but he did his best not to let it show.

“If nothing else,” Derek said finally, “You haven’t changed. Which way?”

“Towards the preserve,” Ellie said shakily. Derek glanced at her for just a moment before standing and stretching. His eyes flashed blue and then, suddenly, there was a large black wolf standing in front of them. Ellie squeaked. Stiles took a step backwards. The wolf charged past them out of the vault. Stiles looked over at Ellie. Her eyes were wide.

“Can Scott do that?” She asked.

“I don’t think so,” Stiles said. “Come on.” He grabbed her hand and headed out of the vault. The alarm was still wailing in the hallway as they ran out of the nearest door and sprinted to the car.

“What did he mean he thought you were dead?” Ellie demanded as they climbed into the car. “Have you met him before somehow?”

“Nope.” Stiles steered the car into the road, ignoring the speed limit. “This is the first time I’ve talked to him.”

“He knew who you were, Stiles.”

“Well… maybe he could hear things while he was in stasis.”

“He didn’t know who I was or what was going on with Scott,” Ellie said. “Try again.” Stiles sighed and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He should have known better than to try and trick Ellie. She was too smart for that.

“Look,” he said. “There’s… some stuff I never told you.” He paused. “I figured out that Scott was older than he was letting on a while before he told you,” he said at last. “I confronted him about it. He told me that… that I’m one of his friends from back then, just reincarnated.” He glanced over at Ellie. She was looking at him with wide eyes. “Look, I know it sounds crazy-”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Ellie interrupted.

“I…” Stiles made a face. “Because it did sound crazy? I don’t know, it’s just a lot to come to terms with.”

“You still could have mentioned it.” Ellie folded her arms. “So that’s why you were acting so weird with him.”

“Um. One of the reasons, yes.” Stiles hunched his shoulders up as Ellie shot him a look.

“One?”

“He was also… sort of… following me?” Stiles said. “He said it was to protect me, because original me died, and he couldn’t stop it, which I guess left him alone for a really long time, and so he’s kind of....” Stiles stopped talking. Ellie was still staring at him.

“Stiles?”

“Yeah?”

“The next time you decide you’re going to keep big secrets from me, I am going to hurt you in ways you can’t possibly imagine.” Stiles winced.

“Yeah, I guess that’s fair.” He screeched the car to a halt by the police tape still outside the broken barn. He and Ellie both scrambled out of the car.

“I don’t see them,” she said nervously. “They couldn’t have gotten too far, right?”

“Considering the size of that thing?” Stiles looked around, feeling desperation growing. What if they hadn’t let Derek out in time? What if Andy was already hurt, or if Scott had somehow managed to get knocked out, or… His thoughts were cut off when he heard a loud howling sound, off in the trees. He whipped his head around.

“That way!” He tore off into the trees without stopping to see if Ellie was behind him or not. He ignored the rocks he stumbled over and the branches that whipped his face and arms. His focus was on the direction that he had heard the howl from. He vaguely heard someone behind him and realized that Ellie must have followed him after all. It seemed like he was running through the forest for an eternity before he broke through into a clearing – or at least, what was now a clearing. The ogre was lying face first in the middle of a circle of crushed trees and bushes. There was a pool of purple around it that Stiles guessed was probably blood. He tore his eyes away from it and looked to the side. Andy was sitting on a rock, a nasty looking scrape on one cheek. Ellie was already next to her, talking softly. When he saw Andy was aware enough to respond, Stiles turned his attention elsewhere. His gaze landed on the two figures on the other side of the damage.

Scott was leaning against a tree, breathing heavily. He didn’t seem to have noticed Stiles’ arrival yet. His focus was totally on the werewolf that Ellie and Stiles had set free from the vault. Derek didn’t look as though the ogre had done anything to him at all. He and Scott were talking quickly, looking as if they were barely pausing for breath. Edging around the ogre – was it dead or what? – Stiles made his way towards them. When he was a couple of feet away they both stopped talking and looked at him. Stiles raised his hand in an awkward wave.

“Hey. Nice, uh, extermination job I guess?” Derek exchanged a glance with Scott before they both looked back at Stiles.

“I think,” Derek said at last, “That we have a lot we need to talk about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus ends Book One of Way Back When. Book Two, called Blood, is in the works now and ideally will be done and ready to start being published in late July.


End file.
